As unions and workers gear up for tomorrow's day of protest against Work Choices, a partner in a law firm has advised employers to make sure sick leave isn't used to cover unauthorised absences, while a labour researcher maintains the planned rallies are "appropriate and legitimate".
Commonwealth Solicitor-General David Bennett QC showed the States no mercy during the High Court Work Choices challenge, and he was at it again recently as an after-dinner speaker at the South Australian IR Society conference.
A stockbroker who was promised a job he never got has won an extra $1.7 million, plus interest, in damages in a Federal Court appeal that extends some criteria for calculating losses for breach of an employment contract.
The AMWU has won the right to pursue a "phoenix" company for employees' entitlements lost when it assumed the same business premises, manager, assets, goodwill and phone number of their former employer when it went into liquidation.
State award-covered workers in WA have this afternoon won a $20 flat increase in their pay, lifting the minimum wage to $504.40 a week ($13.27 an hour), after the WA IRC in its State Wage Case ruling ordered an increase identical to that handed down by the NSW IRC this morning.
Wage increases have tumbled to 3.8% in federal collective agreements certified in the March quarter - the last one that will include large numbers of non-Work Choices deals.
The record $20 flat increase (raising the minimum wage by 4.1%) delivered to all NSW award-covered workers today by the State IRC is sure to put pressure on the Fair Pay Commission to support a substantial rise when it makes its first minimum pay determination in spring.
An attempt by packaging giant Visy to prevent workers at one of its Perth sites from attending unions' national day of protest on Wednesday has failed, after the AIRC found last night there was insufficient evidence that union members intended to take industrial action.
NSW and WA wage case decisions on Monday, with Perth ruling live on the web; Two employer clientele silks appointed to Federal Court; Labor outraged at Andrews staffer appointment as Federal Magistrate; and Work bans start at Victorian Aids Council.
Employers generally can't lawfully refuse to interview a job applicant just because of their criminal record, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission has found.
