The Berejiklian Coalition Government will relax its COVID-19 public sector wage freeze from July 1, moving back to the former 2.5%-a-year cap, and introduce paid leave for workers who suffer a stillbirth or miscarriage.
The FWC has expressed provisional views ahead of a hearing on Thursday that casual definitions and conversion clauses in some awards clash with the Fair Work Act and National Employment Standards, and that it would be inappropriate to itemise loadings.
Woolworths has confirmed it will pay the 2.5% minimum wage increase to employees from the first week of next month, avoiding a repeat of the dispute it had last year with retail unions over the timing of pay rises to workers in its supermarkets and Big W stores.
The FWC has approved a 2.5% increase in all award rates in its minimum wage ruling handed down this afternoon and has again delayed rises for sectors most affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
The FWC's review of awards in sectors hammered by the pandemic is starting to introduce changes stymied by the withdrawal of much of the IR Omnibus Bill, according to former Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James.
Replies are due in the FWC by next Wednesday to union and employer submissions on how awards should define casual employment, if they should set out how casual loading compensates for specific entitlements and whether a model conversion clause measures up.
A call centre worker required to interact overnight with Westpac customers via its social media accounts has failed to convince the FWC his new duties should have bumped him up to a higher classification.
A full bench has quashed a finding that a meatworker is not entitled to payment for time involved in putting on and removing PPE during a half-hour unpaid meal break, but has held an employer's silence did not give the FWC power to arbitrate on the before- and after-work requirement.
