Managing a situation involving an employee suffering non-work related injuries can be challenging, and often difficult to navigate. It is widely misunderstood by employers that non-work related injuries automatically provide legal grounds to terminate an employee, however this is legally not the case. Employers have strict obligations they must adhere [...]
Late last year, our Employment Team covered the case in which an employee was validly dismissed for failing to be present in the office during her mandatory office days. A recent Fair Work decision has outlined the contrary with the absence of the employee on his mandatory office days not [...]
The positive duty was introduced into the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) (SDA) in December 2022 and was a key recommendation of the Australian Human Rights Commission’s (Commission) landmark Respect@Work Report in 2020 led by former Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins. Organisations and businesses now have a positive duty to take ‘reasonable and [...]
Flexible working arrangements are becoming increasingly important for organisations attempting to access talent, boost productivity and to improve the work/life balance for employees. Recently, the Fair Work Commission rejected an employee’s claim that she was unfairly dismissed as she was working remotely without her employer’s consent. This case highlights that [...]
Working Hard or Hardly Working at Home? – Unfair Dismissal Claim Falls Short With the work environment progressively adopting a hybrid approach, it is crucial that employers recognise that employee responsibilities remain consistent both when working remotely and in the office. Early last month a Fair Work Commission case decided [...]
Unfair Dismissal Employers should be aware of certain changes regarding the unfair dismissal provisions. For the unfair dismissal provisions to apply, assuming the employee has completed the minimum period of employment, the employee must: Earn less than the high-income threshold; or Be covered by a modern award or enterprise agreement. [...]
Following the significant changes the Labor government enacted through the Secure Jobs Better Pay amendments to the Fair Work Act, employers should be aware of further changes to the Act. On 22 June, a Bill titled the Fair Work Legislation (Protecting Worker Entitlements) Bill 2023 passed both Houses. As its [...]
In United Workers' Union v Bervar Pty Ltd [2022] FedCFamC2G 418, the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (‘the court’) determined that a HR Manager was personally liable for his direct involvement in the Employer’s adverse action against an employee. The HR Manager was also ordered to pay a $7,560 [...]
Amidst the crackdown by the Victorian Child Employment Watchdog of several employers in respect for their breaches of child employment laws, employers should be aware of new child employment changes being introduced in Victoria on the 1st July 2023. The Child Employment (Amendment) Act 2022 seeks to improve the regulation [...]
Part of the substantial industrial relations reforms which were enacted by the Federal Parliament last December include changes to the rules around flexible working arrangements The Fair Work Act already had provisions that allow an employee to request a change to his or her working arrangements in certain circumstances, such as [...]
