Most universities now have cultural workload allowances for First Nations employees in their agreements that recognise the often unseen cultural education guidance they provide, with WA's Murdoch University the latest to adopt the entitlement, according to the NTEU.
Autistic people need employment support and training, Autism-friendly workplaces and for employers to address hiring biases, according to the draft National Autism Strategy.
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency has revealed a NDIS health service, the Energizer battery giant and an investment and logistics company have the largest median total remuneration gender pay gaps, while construction topped the list on an industry basis, under new laws requiring the agency to annually report the performance of companies with 100-plus employees.
The Australian Public Service Commission is seeking feedback within four weeks on a draft "culturally and linguistically diverse" employment strategy for the APS that identifies almost 60 proposed actions for HR workers, diversity and inclusion teams, managers and senior leadership.
University research commissioned by the FWC has identified 29 "large, highly feminised" and probably undervalued occupations covered by 13 modern awards that it might spotlight in the current annual wage review, in response to the Secure Jobs' imperative to address unequal remuneration and gender undervaluation in minimum rates of pay.
Queensland Council of Unions secretary Jacqueline King says Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke is "receptive" to calls for new gender equity laws replicating the State's legislation that has "made more of a difference" in its first year than in the previous two decades under the Queensland IRC's equal remuneration principle.
Employers should consider modifying working conditions for pregnant women to mitigate premature birth risks, according to a Monash University study that found risks increased with physically demanding jobs, long hours, shiftwork, and exposure to whole-body vibration.
In what is believed to be the first workplace breastfeeding discrimination ruling, a tribunal has found that a KFC franchisee indirectly discriminated against a worker when it told her to express milk in a tent, within a storeroom with no door.
Employers can comply with the new "positive duty" to eliminate sexual harassment and sex discrimination by fostering a respectful culture, ensuring workers have avenues to report incidents, and taking a "risk-based" approach to prevention, according to Human Rights Commission guidance.
An Albanese Government senator has described Amazon's reliance on labour hire workers and independent contractors as the "wild west," and challenged the company's aspiration to be the "best employer on the planet", in a hearing this week.
