Discrimination & Art: The ‘Ladies Lounge’ Legal Challenge
Expansion of the Sick Pay Guarantee Scheme
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).
Navigating Australia’s Third Tranche of Workplace Reforms: Implications for Employers
Protecting Worker Entitlements – What Do the Changes Mean for Your Business?
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.
Sick Pay Guarantee scheme: where to next?
Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave Entitlement Comes into Force
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.
Federal Court finding distinguishes employment class actions from commercial class actions
Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill: Key Changes at a Glance
The Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill (Bill) passed both Houses of Parliament and received Royal Assent in early December 2022.
The Bill amends the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) to make changes across a wide range of areas including:
prohibiting sexual harassment in connection with work and introducing a sexual harassment dispute resolution process;
amendments to bargaining dispute provisions, including the introduction of intractable bargaining declarations and changes to workplace determinations;
industrial action changes including in relation to protected industrial action;
changes to enterprise agreement termination;
simplifying the initiation of bargaining;
abolishing the ROC and ABCC;
sunsetting zombie agreements;
introducing expert panels;
changes to the enterprise agreement approval process and streamlining the ‘better off overall test’;
significant changes to multi-employer bargaining;
prohibiting pay secrecy clauses in employment contracts and requiring advertising to reflect accurate and lawful pay;
changing the objects of the FW Act and increasing the small claims jurisdiction to $100,000;
introducing a right to make flexible working requests and an associated dispute resolution process; and
prohibiting fixed term employment contracts unless certain exceptions apply.
Sladen Legal has developed an overview of the key changes to the FW Act, including information about the timing of commencement of the changes. Sladen Legal’s summary of the key changes and timing can be accessed at the link below.
Jasmine O'Brien
Principal
M +61 401 926 108 | T +61 3 9611 0149
E: jobrien@sladen.com.au
Katherine Dennis
Principal Lawyer
M +61 407 013 010 | T +61 3 9611 0151
E: kdennis@sladen.com.au
Stephan Hill
Lawyer
T +61 9611 0165
E shill@sladen.com.au
FWC grants out-of-time application delayed because of domestic violence
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.
Flawed investigation results in reinstatement of training instructor who stared at colleague’s chest
Developments on the positive duty to prevent sexual harassment
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.
Hasty termination lands employer in hot water
Flight Attendant Reinstated After Employer’s Unfair Process
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.
Refusal to comply with employer’s direction to return to the office found to be a valid reason for dismissal
Victoria to restrict non-disclosure agreements in workplace sexual harassment cases
Failure to Attend Medical Examination Lawful Reason for Dismissal
Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave Entitlement on the Radar
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.
Does an employer need to buy a home desk for an employee? Not according to the Fair Work Commission.
Employers can use JobKeeper to Offset Annual Leave Liabilities
JobKeeper is not just a financial subsidy for qualifying employers. We previously wrote about the extraordinary powers that employers help get them to the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic (or at least until September when the JobKeeper scheme is scheduled to end).