The former Labor Government's changes to the modern award objective have made it impossible for 24/7 industries such as hospitality to successfully prosecute cases to abolish penalty rates and should be scrapped, according to the peak body for restaurant employers.
The Office of the Australian Small Business Commissioner is pushing for the full adult wage to be paid from the age of 18, questioning the rationale behind the IR system "deeming adulthood to commence at 21".
The ACTU will ask the Fair Work Commission for an extra 0.5% in award superannuation to compensate for the Abbott Government's freezing of Labor's scheduled increases to the guarantee levy, in its submission to this year's annual wage review to be lodged on Friday.
A chief executive has been awarded more than $3m after a court found that his employer's redundancy policy was incorporated into his contract of employment, but his off-sider will take home nothing after failing to prove that the policy became part of his contract as part of a "course of dealings".
Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party Senator Ricky Muir has supported penalty rates and touched on his former role as a CFMEU shop steward in his first speech to federal parliament, while Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon has used the chamber to attack FWBC head Nigel Hadgkiss's employment history.
The chief executive of the $84 billion AustralianSuper fund has urged unions to ensure that they make industry super funds the default option in enterprise agreements.
The Fair Work Ombudsman has asked a Victorian Government agency to urgently review the way it engages workers, after an investigation revealed it might be "misclassifying" employees as independent contractors.
A Fair Work Commission full bench has cleared the way for a group of workers laid off when their employer lost a major contract to secure severance pay.
A senior member of the Fair Work Commission has knocked back an enterprise agreement containing a voluntary additional hours provision lodged by a labour hire company with a workforce of casuals on working holiday visas.
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.
