Legislation page 10 of 73

A new report recommends creating specific Fair Work Act protections for gig workers in the care sector and reforming the NDIS and aged care funding and regulation models that "reward businesses that avoid the costs and responsibilities of directly employing personal care and support workers".

The MBA is today calling on the Albanese Government to give a firm undertaking to exclude industries outside the gig-economy before introducing legislation targeting employee-like forms of work, after IR Minister Tony Burke sought to hose down concerns it leaves the door open for a far broader remit.

The Business Council says the Albanese Government's "same job, same pay" proposal "mandates pay level irrespective of the qualifications, experience, knowledge, service and skills of a worker" and imposes "unreasonable costs and administrative burdens" on businesses.

A leading labour law academic has told an IR conference that expanding the FWC's power to arbitrate agreement negotiations will be "the single biggest challenge" posed by the Secure Jobs changes, while the head of a peak state employer group's law firm says it is the "Damoclesean threat of the sword" that will bring people to the table.

The Coalition has given notice of amendments to provisions in the Protecting Worker Entitlements legislation that would allow employees to authorise employers to make payroll deductions that vary from time-to-time, alleging it is a "pretty transparent attempt" by the Albanese Government to address the decline in union membership.

The FWC has listed its first case under its new power to deal with s-xual harassment disputes.

Two proposed new UK laws aim to protect workers by making their time on the job more flexible and predictable, with one bill attempting to combat "one-sided flexibility" by providing the right to seek a reliable working pattern, and another making it easier to make flexible working requests.

A Federal Court majority has today dealt a hammer blow to NSW's and Victoria's pursuit of employers alleged to have avoided long service leave entitlements to casuals, ruling that a tribunal's reading of the Fair Work Act's LSL provision produced an "absurdity" whereby employers received "no warning" they could be held criminally liable for supposed non-payments.

The Albanese Government has outlined for the first time the details of how it might implement its "same job, same pay" proposal that it framed to ensure labour hire arrangements are not used to undercut employees' pay and conditions.

Submissions are due next month on Albanese Government proposals to empower the FWC to set minimum standards and pay rates for those in "employee-like" forms of work, including in the gig economy, and to tackle disputes over contract terms and termination.