The High Court has recently issued a significant decision concerning the powers of the Fair Work Commission (FWC) when considering whether or not a redundancy was genuine, particularly in relation to whether or not redeployment was an available alternative to termination.
When your employees are regularly working hours beyond their contracted hours, or beyond 38 hours per week, there is a risk they will claim those additional hours are ‘unreasonable’.
We have summarised the law surrounding this claim and lessons from recent cases.
The Aged Care Act 2024 (Cth) (Act) commences 1 July this year. The Act promotes the rights of those who access aged care services funded by the Australian Government and includes changes centred around the needs of patients. The reform comes as a result of concerns about various unsatisfactory examples of substandard care raised before the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, established in 2018.
Over recent months, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) has decided on a number of cases involving disputes over breaches of workplace alcohol and drug (AD) policies.
In Benjamin Unicomb v SESLS Industrial Pty Ltd (U2024/8974), the FWC found that the termination of an employee for breaching the AD policy was unfair, and that employers need to consider if employees have understood the policy before the employee is sacked.
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has found a nanny who was paid cash-in-hand and who had agreed to be labelled as a contractor was an employee for the purposes of dealing with a general protections dismissal dispute. In the decision, Deputy President Butler examined the ordinary meanings of employee and employer and their relationships with the meaning of contractor.
Unfair dismissal cases are the last thing a transport operator wants to see landing on their desk. A recent case in the Fair Work Commission (FWC) is an example of how it can go wrong if you don’t address the issue squarely.
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has ordered a workplace to allow an employee to work an additional day per fortnight at home to be with his young child. The FWC decision came about after the employee’s individual flexibility arrangement (IFA) request was denied.
We are delighted to introduce Maddy Lodge, Lawyer in our Workplace Relations group.
On 1 July 2024, a new clause was inserted into all 155 modern awards providing union workplace delegates specific rights in the workplace.
The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) succeeded in seeking a penalty against the operator of a freight distribution business for a failure to comply with a Compliance Notice.
On 30 September 2022, the Prime Minister announced that National Cabinet agreed that from Friday 14 October 2022 there will no longer be a mandatory isolation period for COVID-19. Premier Daniel Andrews has announced that Victoria’s pandemic declaration will come to an end at 11.59pm on Wednesday 12 October, so mandatory isolation will end one day earlier in Victoria.
On 22 May 2022, the Supreme Court of South Australia handed down a decision in Cleanaway Operations Pty Ltd v Phillip Hanel (Commonwealth: Comcare) [2022] SASC 52 upholding the conviction of Cleanaway Operations Pty Ltd (Cleanaway) for offences under section 32 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011(Cth) (Act).
The Australian Labor Party (ALP) proposed a number of amendments in the workplace and industrial relations space which, given the election outcome, the Albanese government is likely to pursue.
On 15 June 2022, the Fair Work Commission handed down its 2022 Annual Wage Review decision.
The Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission (FWC) formed the provisional view on 16 May 2022 that modern awards should contain an entitlement to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave (FDV).
Two related decisions handed down by the High Court of Australia on Wednesday 9 February 2022 continue the approach of the Court enunciated in the Workpac v Rossato [2021] HCA 23 (Rossato) decision handed down last year giving primacy to the terms of the written contract to determine the nature of the relationship between the parties.
The Victorian Government has again extended Mandatory Vaccination requirements for workers and operators of specified facilities from 11.59pm 12 January 2022 under the Pandemic Orders1.
Consistent with the ever-changing workplace during this COVID-19 Pandemic, another new requirement has been introduced for employers.
There have been a number of developments in recent weeks that all transport and logistics operators with employees need to be aware of.
On 8 April 2020, the Parliament passed legislation to give effect to the Government’s JobKeeper scheme and to amend the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) to give eligible employers greater flexibility to modify employees’ working hours, days, duties and location to minimise the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their business and seek to preserve jobs.
Last night, the Parliament passed legislation to give effect to the Government’s JobKeeper scheme and to amend the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) to give eligible employers greater flexibility to modify employees’ working hours, days, duties and location to minimise the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their business and seek to preserve jobs. The legislation became law after receiving Royal Assent today.
Many employers seeking to take corrective action under the Superannuation Guarantee Amnesty (the Amnesty) may currently be so overwhelmed by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic that they do not consider they have the financial resources to apply for the Amnesty.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions implemented by both Federal and State Governments to combat the pandemic have had a substantial impact on businesses and their employees.