Victorian unions will push the Andrews Labor Government to make deliberate and dishonest "wage theft" a criminal offence if it wins the state election in November, while they will also be pursuing industrial manslaughter laws.
The Victorian government has introduced legislation to plug an "unfortunate" gap in how contract cleaning, security and community services workers accrue long service.
A full Federal Court led by Chief Justice James Allsop has bolstered a recent decision confirming the right of employees to head the queue for entitlements after the collapse of businesses operating as corporate trustees.
The ACTU's policy pitch for the next election will include the right for casual workers to convert to permanent after six months, equal rights for workers in the gig economy and a overhaul of labour hire regulation.
The Fair Work Commission has sought to better delineate the law around so-called constructive dismissals, in a case in which it lambasted a multinational company's HR department for overseeing a process it likened to "entrapment".
The Fair Work Ombudsman has called for ASIC-style powers to ask a court to disqualify "repeat offenders" from running companies and avoiding backpay and penalties through phoenix company activity.
Unions have welcomed a South Australia Labor Party promise to introduce 10 days' paid domestic violence leave if it is re-elected on Saturday week, saying they hope it will push the federal government to adopt the approach nationally.
A presidential member of the FWC has prodded legislators to revisit "confusing" aspects of the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code in order to deliver on its promise of speeding parties' progress through the unfair dismissal jurisdiction.
An FWO report released hot on the heels of Caltex's announcement that it will exit franchising has revealed non-compliance at 76% of audited sites and accuses the oil giant of contributing to breaches by failing to put effective systems in place, despite warnings.
The federal government's efforts to rein in the ballooning costs of its FEG scheme have received a significant boost after an appeal court overturned a ruling that stripped it of priority status in seeking to recover almost $4 million paid to employees of a collapsed company.
