A FWC full bench considering whether to make the country's first gig economy award has been told that "the world's moved on" for food delivery workers since the creation 12 years ago of two instruments held by unions and employers to already cover the occupation.
In a sign of the continuing uncertainty surrounding COVID-19's impact on workplaces, the FWC will consider extending millions of award-covered employees' entitlement to two weeks unpaid "pandemic leave" to the end of June next year.
Just 20% of employers have told an FWC survey they offer paid family and domestic violence leave, while Monash University says "victim-survivor" research shows a minimum 14-days' paid leave is needed alongside "culturally-safe and trauma-informed" workplaces.
McDonald's has been hit with a second Federal Court case over its alleged failure to provide paid rest breaks, with a RAFFWU-backed class action claiming thousands of past and present workers are potentially owed millions over the "systemic" issue.
The IEU says it will call out non-government schools over a widespread practice of engaging staff and others in key co-curricular roles as "volunteers", after a Queensland college back paid more than $2 million and entered into an enforceable undertaking with the FWO.
The FWO alleges in court proceedings filed yesterday that Coles owes its managers about $100 million more than it has made allowance for following internal payroll audits looking at the underpayments.
A trio of IR academics has ahead of next week's hearing of Menulog's application to create an on-demand delivery services award warned the FWC it would lead to an "arbitrary schism" between workers performing the same jobs.
The ACTU's bid for 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave has been bolstered by new FWC-commissioned research indicating that a third of recent agreements have a paid entitlement and half of those deals provide at least the quantum the peak body is seeking.
A FWC full bench's insertion of a minimum wage guarantee in the horticulture award to ensure pieceworkers earn at least $25.41 an hour is "one of the most significant industrial decisions of modern times", according to the AWU.
