Pub­li­ca­tions

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…

7 Nov 2025

Baby Priya’s Bill: Land­mark Fair Work Amend­ment Pro­tect­ing Paid Parental Leave After Child Loss

Baby Priya’s Bill amends the Fair Work Act to pro­tect employ­er-fund­ed paid parental leave for par­ents after child loss, still­birth, or adoption.Baby Priya’s Bill (​‘Bill’) passed par­lia­ment on 3 Novem­ber 2025 after par­ents of 42-day old Priya endured a loss no par­ent should have to suffer. Fol­low­ing the trag­ic pass­ing of her daugh­ter, the moth­er…

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…

26 Aug 2025

Arti­fi­cial Intel­li­gence Fol­ly Called Out by Fair Work Commission

In the recent Fair Work Com­mis­sion deci­sion Mr Bran­den Dey­sel v Elec­tra Lift Co.[2025] FWC 2289, Deputy Pres­i­dent Slevin applied a crit­i­cal lens to the use of Chat­G­PT by the Appli­cant who was seek­ing an exten­sion of time to make an appli­ca­tion to deal with con­tra­ven­tions involv­ing dismissal.One fac­tor the FWC exam­ines in…

21 July 2025

Work­place Rela­tion­ships: The Legal Posi­tion (Cold­play Con­cert Edition)

The recent sto­ry of col­leagues (a Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer and Chief Peo­ple Offi­cer (CPO)) whose appar­ent rela­tion­ship was cap­tured on a ​“kiss cam” (jum­botron) at a Cold­play con­cert has cap­tured the pub­lic imag­i­na­tion, result­ing in thou­sands of arti­cles, memes and jokes. In the after­math of the inci­dent, the CEO has resigned…