All publications relating to ‘Employment’
Developing a shared understanding of sexual harassment
Sexual harassment in Australian workplaces impacts one in five workers each year and remains predominantly unreported. There are many reasons why this systemic issue remains unaddressed including legal, cultural and social factors. At the core of this problem is the fact that many Australians do not completely understand what sexual…
Using the Anti-Bullying Jurisdiction of the Fair Work Commission for Sexual Harassment Matters
The Limitations of the AHRC Sexual Harassment Jurisdiction Commentators (both lay and expert) have recently lamented that the Fair Work Commission (FWC) does not have a specific jurisdiction to expeditiously deal with sexual harassment complaints. Instead, the usual approach in sexual harassment matters (in the federal jurisdiction) is to lodge a complaint with…
An Employee’s Commute Thwarts an Employer Commuting Redundancy Pay
In the recent Fair Work Commission (FWC) decision in Australian Footwear T/A Diana Ferrari [2018] FWC 7864 the employer, a business trading under the name Diana Ferrari, applied to the FWC to vary the redundancy amount payable to an employee, Ms Tzortzis, whose employment was terminated on the basis of redundancy…
A Real Deal: An Unfair Dismissal Settlement Goes Wrong
We had a deal! An employer asserts an unfair dismissal case has been settled. The Applicant contends no such settlement has taken place. How can the employer resolve the matter? One avenue potentially open to employers is section 399A of the Fair Work Act (FW Act) which is in the following terms: “Dismissing…
A Review of Women at Work in 2018
With 2018 coming to a close, an opportunity exists to reflect on the social, legal and political issues that defined the year. The year of 2018 sits between the 2017 outpouring of #metoo stories, and the pending federal election of 2019. For that reason, 2018 has been both empowering and difficult…
Modern Award changes 2018 / 2019- Implications for employers
Employers face the constant challenge of trying to keep up with the pace of change to the industrial relations landscape. 2019 will prove to be no exception. Following the Fair Work Commission (FWC) four-yearly review of Modern Awards, there have been a wide range of changes to some key Modern Awards, including…
Reheated Retweets: The Significance of a ‘Retweet’ in Employment
The CFMMEU Case In a recent case of the Fair Work Commission (FWC) (Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union-Construction and General Division, Queensland Northern Territory Divisional Branch [2018] FWC 6462), a ‘retweet’ by a member of the FWC, Senior Deputy President Hamberger, formed the basis of a submission by the Construction, Forestry, Maritime…
Competing Considerations: An Employee and her ‘Hobby Business’.
In the current age where any organisation, irrespective of size, can advertise to the world through the internet, the barriers to entry for “micro” or “hobby” businesses are lower than ever. Increasingly, employees are showing their ingenuity and entrepreneurship by setting up their own hobby businesses to the side of…
Restraints of trade and customer connections
It is well established that restraints of trade in employment contracts will not be enforced by a court if they are considered to be unreasonable. Sometimes a restraint of trade is deemed to be unreasonable because it operates over too wide an area, or for too long a period of time. Sometimes a restraint…
Avoiding redundancy pay where the employer “obtains other acceptable employment” for the employee: four recent cases
As most employers will be aware, the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (Act) contains provisions requiring businesses to pay eligible employees a set amount of redundancy pay where the employee loses their employment due to their role being made redundant. What is perhaps less well known is, the provision at section 12…