Crossbench Senators have voted with Labor and the Greens to establish a Senate inquiry that will revisit how pay and conditions in the trucking industry impact road safety.
In a finding that might influence Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins' inquiry into sexual harassment, a UK parliamentary inquiry has recommended legislating to outlaw non-disclosure agreements that restrict "legitimate discussion" of unlawful discrimination and harassment.
Victoria's labour hire regulatory scheme has opened to mixed reviews, welcomed by the academic who headed a landmark inquiry into the sector but dubbed a "blunt instrument" by a key employer group.
Uber has warned a Victorian on-demand workforce inquiry against "isolated state-based intervention into workplace laws", while calling for a "holistic" national approach that would allow it to better support drivers without them being deemed employees.
Leading employment law academics have urged a WA inquiry to consider a growing body of evidence that wage theft is "not so much an anomaly, as a norm", while the AiG says that characterising under-payments as stealing is misleading.
The Fair Work Act should be changed to prohibit full-time, direct employees being replaced by "permanent casuals", according to a Coalition-dominated Federal parliamentary inquiry chaired by former Nationals' leader and ex-Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce.
A new model award term requiring employers to make a genuine attempt to reach agreement on requests for flexible work arrangements and provide detailed reasons for refusals is to come into effect on December 1.
The Senate's year-long Future of Work inquiry has recommended the extension of workplace laws to cover "gig economy" workers and a re-definition of casual employment.
The Victorian government has proposed that its new scheme to regulate labour hire workers will not extend to secondments and work experience-type placements.
The Queensland Law Reform Commission will examine the need to strengthen legislation around the use of surveillance devices and technologies in the public sphere and the workplace.
