The FWC has upheld the sacking of an AFP employee who refused to meet with its "trojan horse" organisational health team while resisting a return to the office.
A tribunal has upheld Queensland Health's rejection of a HR advisor's bid to continue working from home when she relocates to NSW, on the basis that face-to-face contact is a requirement of the role.
A Productivity Commission-convened work from home seminar has heard how employers are managing the challenges of "hybrid workplaces", dealing with potential OHS and management issues and rethinking how they bring people together.
The COVID-19 pandemic has spawned five distinct work-from-home models, according to the authors of a FWC-commissioned study that found formal policies and relatively fixed hours are key to a successful WFH strategy.
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.
Most negotiations between employers and employees on working from home arrangements will remain outside the formal IR system, according to a new report by the Productivity Commission.
The ACTU's triennial Congress is set to endorse a suite of policies on working from home that extend to the "right to disconnect" from work, payment for all time worked and workers having choice and control over hours.
The FWC has expressed provisional views ahead of a hearing on Thursday that casual definitions and conversion clauses in some awards clash with the Fair Work Act and National Employment Standards, and that it would be inappropriate to itemise loadings.
