The COVID-19 support initiatives an Australian health service implemented for its workers had an overwhelming positive impact on wellbeing, with more than three-quarters reporting improvements to their mental health and ability to cope with pandemic-related stress and anxiety, a study has found.
One of the growing number of employers charged with COVID-related workplace health and safety breaches has been sentenced in Victoria. In Queensland, a PCBU has been fined after its failure to act on safety complaints led to a worker suffering serious wrist injuries.
Employers continue to have a pandemic-related WHS duty to ensure all workers who can work remotely do so, the Australian Council of Trade Unions has claimed, following its executive meeting on the nation's high number of COVID-19 cases.
A long-serving pilot who was sacked for not complying with his airline's COVID-19 vaccination policy has had his unfair dismissal claim upheld by a commission, which identified substantial procedural unfairness against the worker.
A Fair Work Commission full bench has upheld an appeal by a worker who claimed his employer took unlawful adverse action against him by sacking him because he followed COVID-19 isolation orders.
With a horror cold and flu season upon us, and COVID-19 making its rounds again, Australian workplaces have experienced an unparalleled rise in sick leave. Investing in wellbeing-focused initiatives aimed at reducing sickness is one-way employers can lessen the pressure of absenteeism, says a leading business expert.
A worker could be jailed for up to five years and fined heavily, after being charged with recklessly endangering others by attending work after testing positive to COVID-19.
The Fair Work Commission has upheld the dismissal of a long-time Australia Post employee who breached mask rules and ignored multiple reasonable directions not to return to a client's workplace, after complaints he was spreading COVID-19 conspiracy theories.
Another employer has been charged with serious COVID-19 safety breaches attracting millions of dollars in maximum penalties, this time in relation to a COVID outbreak resulting in 34 deaths.
Investing in wellbeing, creating a healthier and happier workplace and adapting to the emerging needs of employees are all essential to creating a more productive work environment, says a leading health and safety specialist.
