Workers working remotely because of COVID-19 or other reasons are more likely to engage in self-endangering behaviours like working while ill, according to researchers, who say employees need self-management training.
A High Court majority has upheld Federal Government and employer appeals against a finding that workers performing 12-hour shifts are entitled to 10 individual days of sick or carer's leave per year under the National Employment Standards.
Strategies aimed at improving ergonomics and targeting stressful work demands that give workers no time to think or have lunch, can reduce the rate of work-related musculoskeletal disorders, European researchers say.
Business and union groups have joined forces to call for the urgent introduction of a paid pandemic leave scheme, saying the outbreaks of COVID-19 in Victoria - which entered a "state of disaster" last night - show workers are attending work while infectious and accelerating community transmission.
A "significant deterioration" in the COVID-19 situation in Victoria and NSW, and the elevated risk of workplace exposure to the virus, have driven a Fair Work Commission full bench's decision to include paid pandemic leave in three modern awards. Meanwhile, a union and an on-demand company have reached an agreement on pandemic protections for workers.
A project examining cases of work-related post-traumatic stress disorder, in supposedly low-risk occupations, has warned that women often experience hostile behaviour and even "mobbing" when they return to work from maternity or sick leave.
Renewed calls for a Federal paid pandemic leave scheme have followed Victoria's revelation that nine in 10 Victorians with COVID-19 continued going to work or the shops after they first experienced symptoms. Meanwhile, heavy vehicle industry workers have been urged to lead by example on coronavirus control measures.
A commission has upheld the dismissal of a psychologically injured whistleblower, after finding the return-to-work "adjustments" required by her doctor were actually "outcomes", and not warranted.
Legal researchers have called for employers to use workplace investigations to eliminate s-xual harassment risks instead of silencing complainants, and warned that COVID-19 is making it harder to detect poor behaviour. Meanwhile, studies have identified links between unsupportive leaders and poor health from bullying and harassment.
Preventing a resurgence of COVID-19 transmissions, as economic activity picks up, hinges on the introduction of a "pandemic regulation" requiring employers to implement higher order WHS controls for the risks posed by the pandemic, an inquiry has heard.