Latest news with #FairWorkCommission
The Advertiser
a day ago
- Business
- The Advertiser
Worker penalty rates to get greater legal protection
Penalty rates for millions of workers will be legally protected under laws set to be introduced when federal parliament resumes. Measures enshrining penalty rates and overtime pay as workplace conditions will be among the first pieces of legislation brought into parliament as part of the Albanese government's second term in office. The laws would ensure penalty rates would not be allowed to form part of a single level of pay where employees would be made worse off. Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth said the measures would allow for critical workplace conditions to be kept. "If you rely on the modern award safety net and work weekends, public holidays, early mornings or late nights, you deserve to have your wages protected," Ms Rishworth said. "We want this law passed as a top priority, so workers are protected from the loopholes that see their take-home pay go backwards." The laws will provide protections for almost 2.6 million workers who are on modern-award wages. The measures came after peak retail and business groups put forward proposals for large companies to opt out of providing penalty rates for staff in exchange for a raise on base levels of pay. Labor had put forward a submission to the Fair Work Commission opposing the changes. Ms Rishworth said women, part-time or casual staff and those under the age of 35 were more likely to be covered by penalty rates. She said workplace agreements should not see pay rates go backwards for staff. "Enterprise bargaining is the appropriate place to negotiate on entitlements, not eroding the award safety net," she said. The penalty rate laws would ensure pay packets would not be reduced when applications are made to the Fair Work Commission when pay rates were being negotiated. Federal parliament will resume on Tuesday for the ceremonial opening, with the first pieces of legislation to be brought forward later in the week. The penalty rate laws will be among the first pieces of legislation introduced to the 48th parliament, along with reductions to HECS debt for students. Penalty rates for millions of workers will be legally protected under laws set to be introduced when federal parliament resumes. Measures enshrining penalty rates and overtime pay as workplace conditions will be among the first pieces of legislation brought into parliament as part of the Albanese government's second term in office. The laws would ensure penalty rates would not be allowed to form part of a single level of pay where employees would be made worse off. Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth said the measures would allow for critical workplace conditions to be kept. "If you rely on the modern award safety net and work weekends, public holidays, early mornings or late nights, you deserve to have your wages protected," Ms Rishworth said. "We want this law passed as a top priority, so workers are protected from the loopholes that see their take-home pay go backwards." The laws will provide protections for almost 2.6 million workers who are on modern-award wages. The measures came after peak retail and business groups put forward proposals for large companies to opt out of providing penalty rates for staff in exchange for a raise on base levels of pay. Labor had put forward a submission to the Fair Work Commission opposing the changes. Ms Rishworth said women, part-time or casual staff and those under the age of 35 were more likely to be covered by penalty rates. She said workplace agreements should not see pay rates go backwards for staff. "Enterprise bargaining is the appropriate place to negotiate on entitlements, not eroding the award safety net," she said. The penalty rate laws would ensure pay packets would not be reduced when applications are made to the Fair Work Commission when pay rates were being negotiated. Federal parliament will resume on Tuesday for the ceremonial opening, with the first pieces of legislation to be brought forward later in the week. The penalty rate laws will be among the first pieces of legislation introduced to the 48th parliament, along with reductions to HECS debt for students. Penalty rates for millions of workers will be legally protected under laws set to be introduced when federal parliament resumes. Measures enshrining penalty rates and overtime pay as workplace conditions will be among the first pieces of legislation brought into parliament as part of the Albanese government's second term in office. The laws would ensure penalty rates would not be allowed to form part of a single level of pay where employees would be made worse off. Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth said the measures would allow for critical workplace conditions to be kept. "If you rely on the modern award safety net and work weekends, public holidays, early mornings or late nights, you deserve to have your wages protected," Ms Rishworth said. "We want this law passed as a top priority, so workers are protected from the loopholes that see their take-home pay go backwards." The laws will provide protections for almost 2.6 million workers who are on modern-award wages. The measures came after peak retail and business groups put forward proposals for large companies to opt out of providing penalty rates for staff in exchange for a raise on base levels of pay. Labor had put forward a submission to the Fair Work Commission opposing the changes. Ms Rishworth said women, part-time or casual staff and those under the age of 35 were more likely to be covered by penalty rates. She said workplace agreements should not see pay rates go backwards for staff. "Enterprise bargaining is the appropriate place to negotiate on entitlements, not eroding the award safety net," she said. The penalty rate laws would ensure pay packets would not be reduced when applications are made to the Fair Work Commission when pay rates were being negotiated. Federal parliament will resume on Tuesday for the ceremonial opening, with the first pieces of legislation to be brought forward later in the week. The penalty rate laws will be among the first pieces of legislation introduced to the 48th parliament, along with reductions to HECS debt for students. Penalty rates for millions of workers will be legally protected under laws set to be introduced when federal parliament resumes. Measures enshrining penalty rates and overtime pay as workplace conditions will be among the first pieces of legislation brought into parliament as part of the Albanese government's second term in office. The laws would ensure penalty rates would not be allowed to form part of a single level of pay where employees would be made worse off. Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth said the measures would allow for critical workplace conditions to be kept. "If you rely on the modern award safety net and work weekends, public holidays, early mornings or late nights, you deserve to have your wages protected," Ms Rishworth said. "We want this law passed as a top priority, so workers are protected from the loopholes that see their take-home pay go backwards." The laws will provide protections for almost 2.6 million workers who are on modern-award wages. The measures came after peak retail and business groups put forward proposals for large companies to opt out of providing penalty rates for staff in exchange for a raise on base levels of pay. Labor had put forward a submission to the Fair Work Commission opposing the changes. Ms Rishworth said women, part-time or casual staff and those under the age of 35 were more likely to be covered by penalty rates. She said workplace agreements should not see pay rates go backwards for staff. "Enterprise bargaining is the appropriate place to negotiate on entitlements, not eroding the award safety net," she said. The penalty rate laws would ensure pay packets would not be reduced when applications are made to the Fair Work Commission when pay rates were being negotiated. Federal parliament will resume on Tuesday for the ceremonial opening, with the first pieces of legislation to be brought forward later in the week. The penalty rate laws will be among the first pieces of legislation introduced to the 48th parliament, along with reductions to HECS debt for students.
Perth Now
a day ago
- Business
- Perth Now
Worker penalty rates to get greater legal protection
Penalty rates for millions of workers will be legally protected under laws set to be introduced when federal parliament resumes. Measures enshrining penalty rates and overtime pay as workplace conditions will be among the first pieces of legislation brought into parliament as part of the Albanese government's second term in office. The laws would ensure penalty rates would not be allowed to form part of a single level of pay where employees would be made worse off. Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth said the measures would allow for critical workplace conditions to be kept. "If you rely on the modern award safety net and work weekends, public holidays, early mornings or late nights, you deserve to have your wages protected," Ms Rishworth said. "We want this law passed as a top priority, so workers are protected from the loopholes that see their take-home pay go backwards." The laws will provide protections for almost 2.6 million workers who are on modern-award wages. The measures came after peak retail and business groups put forward proposals for large companies to opt out of providing penalty rates for staff in exchange for a raise on base levels of pay. Labor had put forward a submission to the Fair Work Commission opposing the changes. Ms Rishworth said women, part-time or casual staff and those under the age of 35 were more likely to be covered by penalty rates. She said workplace agreements should not see pay rates go backwards for staff. "Enterprise bargaining is the appropriate place to negotiate on entitlements, not eroding the award safety net," she said. The penalty rate laws would ensure pay packets would not be reduced when applications are made to the Fair Work Commission when pay rates were being negotiated. Federal parliament will resume on Tuesday for the ceremonial opening, with the first pieces of legislation to be brought forward later in the week. The penalty rate laws will be among the first pieces of legislation introduced to the 48th parliament, along with reductions to HECS debt for students.
Sky News AU
2 days ago
- Business
- Sky News AU
Commonwealth Bank of Australia taken to Fair Work Commission by Finance Sector Union for allegedly offshoring hundreds of jobs to its subsidiary CBA India
Australia's largest company has been taken to court for allegedly breaching a contract by outsourcing hundreds of local jobs to India. The Finance Sector Union said it has commenced action in the Fair Work Commission against Commonwealth Bank of Australia for allegedly breaching the CBA Enterprise Agreement. CBA has been accused of defying Clause 36 of the agreement which defines redundancy. Redundancy can occur, according to the clause, if the work is no longer required, the work is required to be done at a different location that is not within reasonable commuting distance or if the work is restructured so that the tasks are split up to other positions. The FSU said the bank informed the union on June 10 that 304 redundancies across technology and retail banking jobs were taking place, while it was recruiting for about 100 jobs for CBA India. About 110 of the jobs impacted by the redundancies had a job ad based in India with the same job title, the FSU says. These include positions such as senior software engineers, staff data engineer, staff software engineer, engineering manager, software engineer and senior data engineer. FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano tore into the major bank for its action and said it had caused "outrage" amongst its members. "By hiring for the same job, at their own Indian subsidiary, they're showing themselves to have breached the Enterprise Agreement and essentially lied to their workers," Ms Angrisano said in a statement. "This is the very definition of bad faith." She said the redundancies were "proof" the big banks have a preference for offshoring Australian jobs to boost their bottom lines. "These jobs are not required to be done in India; they're just moving the work there to take advantage of cheaper labour and further line their own pockets," Ms Angrisano said. 'All Australians are paying for the sham redundancy actions of the CBA. "Not only are Australian workers being unfairly and reasonably sacked but this is being subsidised by all taxpayers. Bona fide redundancies are taxed concessionally in the hands of the workers. "It is especially disgusting that the nation's richest company is also reducing the tax take as it makes the final payment to hundreds of Australians that we know are being sacked solely to have their work performed offshore.' A CBA spokesperson rejected the union's claims and said it had met with representatives to "assure them that there is no basis to their allegations". "During the formal consultation on recent workforce changes, the FSU did not raise any concerns with us about like-for-like job changes," the spokesperson said. The CBA spokesperson earlier on Friday said no dispute had been filed with the Fair Work Commission, however, she has since acknowledged the action has been lodged. The lastest row between the FSU and CBA follows the union attacking the bank for slashing more than 150 roles just days after revealing a $2.6 billion quarterly profit. It also comes after the FSU demanding answers from CBA over the axing of 164 jobs from the bank's technology division. Just weeks after this, the FSU hit out over plans to axe 90 roles at CBA's subsidiary Bankwest.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
WFH warning after Aussie dad's request denied in new ruling: ‘Troubling'
A Sydney dad has had his request to work from home two days a week rejected by the Fair Work Commission. The case could have legal implications for other Aussies returning to the office full-time, with a legal expert noting workers would be required to show they have a 'good enough reason' to request to work from home. Fair Work deputy president Lyndall Dean found a 'preference' to continue working from home wasn't enough. She said the worker hadn't established a sufficient 'nexus' between the request and his responsibilities as a parent to care for his two school-age kids, aged 8 and 10, and this resulted in her ruling in favour of the employer. Monash University business law lecturer Amanda Selvarajah told Yahoo Finance the decision was an example of Fair Work putting the onus on employees to 'justify' their flexible work requests, with less focus placed on employers in comparison. RELATED Tradie 'forced' to quit job after boss swears at him in secretly recorded meeting Coles and Costco grocery price comparison 'shocks' Aussie mum Aussie tradie loses $110,000 house deposit due to small detail 'It sets a troubling precedent when employers don't have to justify their preferences around flexibility, but employees have to justify theirs. I think that tips the scales in a troubling way,' she said. Australian workers have the right to request flexible working arrangements if they are eligible full-time, part-time or long-term casuals and meet certain eligibility criteria. That includes workers who are parents or carers of kids of school age or younger, along with workers who are pregnant, carers, have a disability, are 55 or older, or are experiencing family and domestic violence. Employers can also refuse the request on "reasonable business grounds" and have to take certain steps, like discussing the request with the happened in the worker's case? The Sydney man worked for global software company Intersystems, as a technical specialist. The company had adopted a hybrid working model after the pandemic, with employees able to work from home two days per week. However, in November, the company let staff know they would be required to come into the office full-time, five days a week, from February. The man had requested to continue working from home two days per week, citing caring responsibilities for his two school-aged kids, which he shared with his wife, and the need for work-life balance. This was denied by his employer, who instead offered for him to work from home one day a week. This was rejected, with the worker then taking the matter to Fair Work. The company argued working from the office allowed employees to exchange information, supported mentoring opportunities, and allowed for faster decision making and more efficient resolution of customer issues. Its user survey revealed a 28 per cent decline in customer satisfaction, which prompted management to implement the measures. What did Fair Work decide? Dean found in favour of the employer. She said the evidence did not demonstrate that the employee was required to work from home two days per week in order to meet parental responsibilities. '[He] conceded in cross-examination that he has no specific caring duties between the core working hours of 9am and 5pm, and that he and his wife are able to manage school drop-offs and pick-ups through existing flexibility, including adjusted start and finish times,' she said. She added the employer made 'genuine' attempts to engage with the work from home request, including offering alternative arrangements like working shorter hours on specific days, with the employee giving 'no explanation' why the alternatives were unsuitable. What does this mean for other workers? More workers have been putting flexible work refusals to the test since the government introduced powers under the Secure Jobs Better Pay law. Selvarajah said the case was part of a 'pattern of decisions from the Fair Work Commission' and meant employees had to show a "good enough reason" to support their request. 'It does mean that employees making requests are probably not only going to have to specify the criteria they're relying on, but provide quite detailed reasons as to why the particular flexible work arrangement they're asking for is going to be related to the particular eligibility criteria and actually explain this 'nexus',' she told Yahoo Finance. Selvarajah said some employees may be reluctant to ask for flexible work arrangements if the bar is too high. 'To be engaging with that type of conversation with your employer about the specifics of why you might need to take time off, for example, if you were a family and domestic violence victim, that's quite a huge invasion of privacy,' she said. 'It's quite a lot to ask of employees, and at a time when I think we should be normalising flexible work requests, it actually places a lot of formality and rigmarole around asking for a flexible work request in the first place.' Selvarajah noted the case wasn't a binding precedent and the Commission could change their mind on the interpretation of the legislation and had scope to read it differently. It comes as major companies ask staff to return to the office full-time, including the likes of Amazon, Tabcorp and Flight Centre. Other companies like Woolworths have increased the number of days workers are required in the office.
NZ Herald
2 days ago
- Business
- NZ Herald
Fair Work slaps down Australian dad's work-from-home request to help care for school-aged kids
The working dad wanted to keep his arrangement of working-from-home twice a week to help look after his children. Photo / Getty Images Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech. The working dad wanted to keep his arrangement of working-from-home twice a week to help look after his children. Photo / Getty Images An Australian dad who tried to get his employer to let him work from home twice a week, to help care for his school-age children, has had his request denied. The dad took his legal bid to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) after attempts to reach a compromise with his employer failed. Paul Collins, a technical specialist at global software company Intersystems Australia, sought the ability to work from home two days a week in order to help care for his school-aged children, aged 8 and 10. His application, filed in January, also said mentioned he needed better 'work-life balance'. His bid has not been successful. His employer, Intersystems, operates an online record system in Australia known as TrakCare, used by healthcare providers to allow the sharing of health information between facilities and organisations. The employee had previous been working remotely two days a week in late 2024, under a hybrid working model the company had adopted during the Covid-19 pandemic.
