Working from home continues to present legal challenges for employers. Please read our latest update below.

With the ‘right to disconnect’ coming into effect on 26 August 2024 (and 26 August 2025 for small businesses), it’s necessary for employers to understand their obligations and prepare for employees to exercise this new workplace right.

The recent case of Lau v Moorilla Estate Pty Ltd [2024] TASCAT 58 revolved around a conflict between an artwork, specifically designed to be discriminatory for artistic purposes, and the provisions of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 (Tas) (the Act).

The Victorian Government’s Sick Pay Guarantee Scheme (the Scheme) commenced operation in Victoria on 14 March 2022.  Less than a year after its commencement, attention turned to whether the Scheme’s operation would be expanded as the first year was under budget and uptake by eligible employees was below anticipated levels (see previous article here).

Australia's Third Tranche of Reforms are on the horizon! Employers, stay informed and ensure compliance with these key changes.

The second tranche of workplace relations reforms have now received Royal Assent, bringing into force the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Protecting Worker Entitlements) Act 2023 (Cth) (Entitlements Act) on 1 July 2023. It is important that employers are aware of the changes and how these changes will impact the workplace.

Almost one year into its two-year pilot, the Victorian Sick Pay Guarantee scheme has paid out more than one million hours of sick and carer’s leave to casual employees at a cost of more than $22 million.  The scheme is currently fully funded by the Victorian Government. 

Recently, the paid family and domestic violence leave entitlement provisions in the Fair Work Act 2009 came into force.  This new entitlement is available to nearly all employees in Australia and imposes new obligations on employers.  So, what is the new entitlement and what do employers need to do when they are faced with a request to take the leave? We provide the answers in our Employment Law team’s most recent article.

The Federal Court has provided guidance regarding the approval of settlement agreements and settlement distribution schemes in the employment context in the recent case of Bradshaw v BSA Limited (No 2).

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) recently held that a general protections application submitted seven minutes late warranted an extension of time because of exceptional circumstances.

It is common for employers to face conflicting versions of events when investigating sexual harassment complaints. When dealing with such instances, employers are required to assess the reliability and credibility of the evidence to make findings on the balance of probabilities.

The Federal Government has taken further steps to implement outstanding recommendations contained in the Respect@Work Report (the Report), which was initially published by the Sex Discrimination Commissioner (the Commissioner) in January 2020.

Acting with emotion (rather than logic) can unfortunately lead cause an employer to make poor or irrational decisions about terminating an employee’s employment.

Employers will often refer on previous warnings to support of a decision to terminate the employee’s employment for misconduct. However, a recent case involving Virgin Australia is a reminder for employers to give employees the opportunity to respond to any reliance on former warnings before making a decision to terminate.

Employees previously worked from home exclusively because of public health orders that prevented them from attending the office due to COVID-19. Following the lifting of restrictions, some businesses have returned to the physical office while others have adopted a hybrid work arrangement.

Victoria will be the first Australian jurisdiction to introduce legislation which prohibits the use the non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in relation to workplace sexual harassment.

A question frequently asked by employers is whether you can terminate the employment of an employee who is on long-term personal or sick leave.

The Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission (FWC) recently came to a provisional view that there should be a modern award entitlement to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence (FDV) leave. The Full Bench’s provisional view may be accessed here.

Many office-based employees have been working from home due to COVID-19 restrictions. This has posed obvious logistical and operational challenges for many employers.