All publications relating to ‘Employment’
The Hunger Games have arrived: HR are now the hunted!
One of the purposes of someone forming a company is to enable an enterprise to trade to the extent of the resources of the company. The intention of this structure is to allow people to start an enterprise — be innovative — and if it doesn’t work, to be able to…
Minimising employer redundancy obligations
A provision exists in the Fair Work Act, which enables employers to apply to the Fair Work Commission to minimise their statutory redundancy obligations to staff whom they retrench. The basis for such an application (which is made under s. 120 of the Act) is that the employer has found…
Employment law changes from 1 July 2016
In Brief It is a constant challenge for employers to remain up date with changes in the dynamic environment of employment law. This article looks at a number of important changes in this area which came into effect on 1 July 2016.As well as increases to minimum wages and the “high income threshold”…
The complexity of employment law in Australia has no future in the ‘future’
When we engage staff now we do so in an environment where uncertainty and diminishing employment security is the new norm for all. This reflects the greater competition facing businesses both from technology and the globalised environment. Yet it is interesting how so many people believe that staff can be…
The perils of misleading your prospective employees
INTRODUCTIONThere are few court decisions which deal with damages claims by employees lured into new employment by prospective employers’ assurances, and who suffer loss when things do not go according to plan. However a decision of the Federal Court of Australia handed down in April 2016 in Rakic v Johns Lyng Insurance Building…
Proceedings under the Fair Work Act Is the Fair Work Commission really a cost free jurisdiction?
Common questions asked by parties in unfair dismissal claims are “will I get my costs back if I win?” and “will I have to pay the other side’s costs if I lose?” The default position is “no”. Under the Fair Work Act (the Act) each party usually pays its own legal costs in unfair…
The future and HR — the other side of the worm-hole
Recently, we hosted a seminar on the Future of HR and heard from two experts in the field about their experience and thoughts on the rapidly transforming workplace and their predictions for the future. That night we slipped trhough the worm-hole to reveal what a thriving HR professional will look like in the…
The deceit of the policy manual
“Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them… well, I have others.” — Groucho Marx As an HR professional, you value your integrity, right? Without that, your credibility with staff disappears. A core aspect of integrity is honesty — if your word cannot be relied upon, then you lose the trust…
If you employ a worker for a particular project, can you terminate them at the end of that project?
IN BRIEF Today in the world of Australian property, contingent workers fit the bill. Contingent workers are the freelancers, or independent professionals and consultants, or temporary contract workers, who provide their services to an organisation on a non-permanent or contract basis. There’s recently been a big increase of fit-outs in residential property across the…
When is a contractor not a contractor? Is an ABN enough?
In brief Employment lawyers are constantly being told by their clients: “It’s okay, he/she has an ABN”. Employers often presume, as the worker has the “magical” ATO-related number, the ABN, that somehow all employment obligations are absolved. Recent cases in relation to sham contracting and, generally, claims by employees have demonstrated…