Pub­li­ca­tions

18 May 2026

A Frus­trat­ed FWC: Look­ing beyond the ​“Plumber’s Crack”

The recent Fair Work Com­mis­sion (FWC) deci­sion in Antho­ny Davitkov v Wool­worths Group Lim­it­ed [2026] FWC 1655 has attract­ed much mirth because it refers to an employ­ee who brought a gen­er­al pro­tec­tions dis­missal appli­ca­tion because he was informed by a col­league that (and this was para­phras­ing from the pre­sid­ing mem­ber, Deputy Pres­i­dent Col­man)…

11 May 2026

Expos­ing the Con­struc­tive Dis­missal Shibboleth

This arti­cle exam­ines the Fair Work Commission’s deci­sion in Bai­ley Richens v BDO Admin­is­tra­tion Pty Ltd [2025] FWC 3699, high­light­ing the risks of pre­ma­ture res­ig­na­tion and clar­i­fy­ing why invok­ing ​“con­struc­tive dis­missal” can under­mine, rather than sup­port, a claim.The con­cept of ​“con­struc­tive dismissal”Some aggriev­ed employ­ees con­sid­er the invo­ca­tion of the words ​“con­struc­tive dis­missal” akin…

9 Mar 2026

Kyle and Jack­ie O: The Work­place Rela­tions Law Perspective

The rela­tion­ship between show­busi­ness duos often comes to an acri­mo­nious end. Mar­tin and Lewis split at the height of their fame, with a brief rap­proche­ment bro­kered by Frank Sina­tra after 20 years in which they did not speak to each oth­er. Simon and Gar­funkel have had a frac­tious alliance, even split­ting a first time…

9 Feb 2026

The Paper­cut Deci­sion and the Cur­rent Posi­tion on WFH

The FWC’s John­son v Paper­Cut Soft­ware deci­sion has renewed debate about the lim­its of work­ing from home rights. While some have com­pared it to Chan­dler v West­pac, the cas­es high­light that WFH out­comes depend on indi­vid­ual cir­cum­stances, con­tract terms and employ­er poli­cies. The rul­ing under­scores that no sin­gle case estab­lish­es a uni­ver­sal right…

6 Feb 2026

Valen­tine’s Day in the Work­place (2026 Edition)

Valentine’s Day may appear harm­less, but in work­places it can cre­ate legal and cul­tur­al risks. Even well‑meant roman­tic ges­tures can be unwel­come and poten­tial­ly con­sti­tute sex­u­al harass­ment or con­tribute to a hos­tile envi­ron­ment under the Sex Dis­crim­i­na­tion Act. With employ­ers now car­ry­ing pos­i­tive duties to pre­vent such con­duct, the tra­di­tions of…

12 Jan 2026

Aus­tralia Day Sub­sti­tu­tion: The Legal Issues (2026 Edition)

As more major employ­ers allow staff to work on Aus­tralia Day and take the pub­lic hol­i­day lat­er, impor­tant legal ques­tions arise. With grow­ing flex­i­bil­i­ty and shift­ing views on 26 Jan­u­ary, employ­ers must under­stand the rules around sub­sti­tut­ing pub­lic hol­i­days, ensur­ing gen­uine employ­ee con­sent, and avoid­ing any per­cep­tion of undue influence.It has…

10 Nov 2025

‘Tis the Sea­son to Avoid Fol­ly: Work­place Christ­mas Par­ties (2025 Edition)

As the fes­tive sea­son approach­es, many organ­i­sa­tions are prepar­ing for their annu­al Christ­mas par­ties. While these events are meant to be fun, they remain an exten­sion of the work­place — mean­ing employ­ers must bal­ance cel­e­bra­tion with respon­si­bil­i­ty. Cre­at­ing a safe, respect­ful envi­ron­ment is essen­tial to avoid legal and com­pli­ance risks dur­ing…

4 Nov 2025

Restraints and Real Estate – what is enforceable

What do post-employ­ment restraints in real estate real­ly mean for agents and employ­ers? In the prop­er­ty indus­try, employ­ment agree­ments often include three key restraints: non-solic­i­ta­tion, non-accep­tance, and non-com­pe­ti­tion. These claus­es aim to pro­tect client rela­tion­ships, con­fi­den­tial infor­ma­tion, and busi­ness good­will, but their enforce­abil­i­ty depends on how they’re draft­ed and applied…

27 Oct 2025

Putting the West­pac Work­ing From Home Case in Perspective

Can employ­ees real­ly work from home if they want to? In a recent Fair Work case an employ­ee won the right to work from home, but it turns out it’s not that sim­ple. It can only be request­ed under cer­tain con­di­tions and each case depends on the sit­u­a­tion of the employ­ee and…

8 Sept 2025

Fed­er­al Court Deci­sion Lim­its Effec­tive Use of Set-Off in Con­trac­tu­al Annu­al Salary Arrangements

The Deci­sionIn a recent Fed­er­al Court deci­sion*, Jus­tice Per­ram held that while con­trac­tu­al set-off claus­es in an annu­al salary arrange­ment can be effec­tive for the sat­is­fac­tion of mod­ern award enti­tle­ments dur­ing a pay peri­od, they are inef­fec­tive between pay peri­ods. This is a sig­nif­i­cant lim­i­ta­tion on the prac­ti­cal use of con­trac­tu­al annu­al salary…