The FWC has decided to conclude a case with a "lengthy and complex" history, dismissing an employer's bid to further delay consideration of a union's application to terminate its nominally-expired deal while it challenges the tribunal's rejection of a new agreement to the Federal Court.
Woolworths says settling a class action it dismissed as "without merit" will ensure its approach to repaying thousands of salaried managers can be "appropriately addressed" via an FWO Federal Court case, but it will first pay affected staff a further $50 million.
The FWC has introduced two new forms aimed at smoothing the processes around casual conversion disputes and addressing agreement anomalies arising from new casual employee definitions.
The Fair Work Act's stand down provisions enabled employers to shift the pandemic's economic risks to employees, according to new analysis by IR law experts Anthony Forsyth and Andrew Stewart, who also say legal uncertainty about the provisions could imperil the stand down strategies used by companies such as Qantas as business gradually resumes.
Australia had less need than other countries to turn to legislation to provide short-term workplace flexibility in response to COVID-19 because of "swift" and "bold" yet self-restrained interventions by the FWC, according to new research.
The insights gained from the rapid shift to working from home during COVID-19 could lead to the adoption of a "genuine consultation" requirement under the Fair Work Act's "right to request" flexibility that might start "a conversation aimed at reaching a mutually suitable arrangement", according to a new paper by two leading IR academics.
The RBA says it new enterprise deal complies with the public sector pay cap in the Federal Government's workplace bargaining policy, despite delivering a guaranteed pay rise of 2.9% in the first year and what is likely to be about 4% in the second year.
Melbourne's largest water retailer has had its new agreement quashed after realising, two days after its approval, that it submitted a draft version to the FWC for approval.
Qantas has struck enterprise agreements covering about 450 regional pilots at Sunstate and Eastern, the first to be negotiated since it announced a two-year wage freeze in May as part of its COVID-19 recovery plan.
The UWU has welcomed a new agreement that pays a 10% increase over three years to about 3000 Star Sydney casino workers and boosts annual leave to five weeks.
