The Federal Government has made a "technical assumption" that there will be a minimum wage increase of 3.5% this year, the FWC's expert panel heard yesterday, while Commission President Adam Hatcher lamented the "Catch-22" situation the Commission faces in weighing whether Canberra will fund any gender-based increases.
The ANMF is urging the FWC to use "right to disconnect" award variations make it harder for employers to cut costs by relying on "threadbare" staffing and refusing to roster enough workers on-call, while the NTEU wants casual academics paid to respond to students outside their working hours.
Unions are asking the FWC to reject the Albanese Government's proposed phase-in schedule for Stage 3 work value pay rises of up to 13.5% in aged care, but employers say they are "commercially compelled" to support it to protect the sector's viability.
The FWC has transferred workers from BHP's in-house labour hire arm to direct employment with the new owners of a former BHP Coal mine, finding it "consistent" with the intent of the Fair Work Act's new "same-job, same-pay" protections.
A leading IR lawyer involved in a claim for an "exemption rate" in the Clerks Award says almost all employers of salaried staff, across industries, are breaching record-keeping requirements.
Employers have succeeded in varying an award clause a FWC full bench agrees could produce the "absurd" result of workers receiving five times the prescribed minimum rates.
The FWC has observed that an employer "is not a charity", in rejecting a claim from a former risk manager for an insolvent cryptocurrency trader that his award-covered role did not change despite successive $50,000 promotions over just 15 months.
A FWC full bench has made a provisional ruling in favour of ensuring the lowest pay classification in modern awards is used only for a short period of induction and training, making the second lowest rate the benchmark for continuing employment.
Unions and employers have flagged support for permitting award-covered employees to extend their annual leave by taking it at half pay, in what might be the sole area of consensus arising from the work and care tranche of the FWC's modern awards review, but they are yet to agree on "safeguards".
The Federal Government "strongly supports" the Stage 3 pay increases of up to 13.5% determined in the aged care work value case, but wants them phased-in, with half to be paid in January next year and the remainder in January 2026.
