A Fair Work Commission full bench has rejected an employer's appeal against an award coverage ruling, saying it might be "inappropriate" to use the "substantial character" approach to determining which modern award applies.
The NSW Business Chamber has formally applied for the Fair Work Commission to introduce new rules in modern awards covering more than 500,000 micro businesses that employ fewer than five workers.
A modern award is set to be stripped of a discriminatory clause that has prevented 13 older employees accessing between 40 and 60 weeks redundancy pay over the past 18 months.
The Department of Employment has crunched the numbers on Australia's 122 modern awards, finding that just half provide for weekend penalty loadings, and 26 rule them out.
The Fair Work Commission has rejected a labour hire company's application to approve a deal without pay rates or restrictions on hours for its small, self-represented workforce, after granting the CFMEU permission to be heard as a "contradictor".
A four-member Fair Work Commission full bench has ruled that the tribunal has the power to insert in modern awards a provision penalising employers for late payment of wages, but has left it to another bench to decide next week whether the proposal has merit.
Hospitality and retail employers have detailed the substantial cuts they are seeking to penalty rates in the FWC's four-yearly modern award review, and say they will rely on expert evidence from a Deloitte economist to back their case.
FWC Vice President Adam Hatcher will head up a full bench to deal with the ACTU's wide-ranging casual and part-time employment claims, as well as proposed employer variations, after Commission president Iain Ross accepted they were "common issues" across the modern awards that the tribunal is reviewing after four years of operation.
