The Turnbull Government has confirmed it will make a submission to the Fair Work Commission on how to handle the transition to lower penalty rates in the retail and hospitality sectors.
The Fair Work Ombudsman is still working through store visits and audits of the Domino's pizza chain after allegations that it has underpaid workers, the watchdog has told a Senate Estimates hearing.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull wants the Fair Work Commission to phase-in the planned cuts to some Sunday penalty rates over a period of years, to ensure that workers' take-home pay is protected, while the tribunal has timetabled the next stage of the penalties case.
Employment Minister Michaelia Cash has asked the Opposition to back new legislation that would scrap the Fair Work Act's mandatory four-yearly reviews of modern awards.
As a court fines a regional café more than $500,000 for exploiting overseas workers and the FWO pursues two other cafes for unlawful "cash-back" schemes, Ombudsman Natalie James has welcomed the Federal Government's commitment to introducing laws to prohibit such arrangements.
A Senate inquiry has urged Public Service Minister Michaelia Cash to intervene in the federal public sector bargaining dispute and soften the "intransigent" Coalition's "brutally hard-line" bargaining policy by relaxing the 2% wages cap and removing the prohibition on backpay, but Government senators have flatly rejected the recommendations.
Labor and Greens senators are calling on the Federal Government to establish a new authority to provide a "just transition" for workers expected to lose jobs during the shift away from coal-fired power generation, but the Coalition says it would just increase bureaucracy.
Justice Susan Kiefel is set to be the High Court's first female chief justice on the retirement of the incumbent, Robert French, while Federal Court Justice James Edelman is to join her on the bench.
Former Public Service Commissioner Andrew Podger has told a Senate inquiry that getting rid of bargaining altogether in the federal public sector would improve productivity.
The Turnbull Government’s plan to push its IR bills through the Senate have been thrown into doubt by legal questions over the eligibility of two crossbench senators.
