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.
Westpac has introduced special paid leave for employees to get COVID-19 vaccinations after the FSU wrote to financial institutions seeking two days' paid leave for all staff to get shots, while the Commonwealth Bank says it will also allow time off for the purpose.
Aviation unions will this month ask the High Court to hear an appeal against Qantas's use of JobKeeper payments, on the same day that the ABCC will seek leave to challenge a full Federal Court finding on the nature of "industrial activity".
Unions representing workers at Alliance Airlines have raised doubts about whether the company can force workers to comply with its mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy.
As Telstra continues to bring call centre jobs back onshore and responds to changing needs during the pandemic, it says a new flexible work policy will support "location agnostic" and "hybrid" practices that open up flexibility options for all employees.
Employers operating in high-risk environments such as aged and child care have been given further confidence that they can force workers to immunise after the FWC today upheld the sacking of a long-serving care assistant who refused a compulsory flu shot on allergy grounds.
Requests by two HR consultancies to extend coronavirus-driven award variations providing more flexibility to work from home have prompted the FWC to expand the window for submissions on its provisional view that the measures should be wound up.
The Attorney-General's Department is examining the implications of a corporate restructuring last year which saw the taxpayer-funded Fair Entitlements Guarantee liable for about $40 million in employee entitlement claims.
Qantas says it will apply a two-year wage freeze in the next round of enterprise agreements across the group, followed by 2% annual pay increases instead of the current 3%.
The ACTU's latest submission to the FWC's minimum wage panel has seized on Federal Budget forecasts that wage growth will lag behind inflation until 2024-25, arguing it is a "mystery" who else has the power to influence that trajectory.
