Employment
Model Code of Practice
In January 2024, Safe Work Australia released a model WHS Code of Practice for Sexual and Gender-based Harassment, providing practical guidance on how to eliminate or minimise the risk of sexual and gender-based harassment at work.
Respect@Work – Sex discrimination and the positive duty
The Australian Human Rights Commission, which is responsible for investigating breaches of the new positive duty, has issued guidelines to be met by organisations to demonstrate they comply with the duty.
Wage increase for early childhood educators
This week, the Australian Government announced it would fund a 15% increase to wages for early childhood educators, including out of school hours care (OSHC) employees.
Key employment law changes 1 July 2024 through to 1 January 2025
In addition to recent changes around fixed term contracts, there are a significant number of employment law changes coming into effect starting in July and continuing through to 1 January 2025. We have briefly outlined these below, and we encourage organisations to contact us to ensure their operations are compliant with each change.
Bullying v reasonable requests by supervisor
The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the Act) provides a process for employees to apply for stop bullying orders where they are being bullied at work. Section 789FD (2) of the Act makes it clear that “reasonable management action carried out in a reasonable manner” does not amount to bullying conduct.
Can I consider a criminal record during the hiring process?
A recent ACAT decision COMPLAINANT DT292023 v THE CANBERRA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (Discrimination) [2024] ACAT 42 (the Decision) considered whether the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) withdrew an offer of employment to an applicant (the Applicant) based on an irrelevant criminal record that was disclosed as part of her application process.
New and amended employment laws from 1 July 2024
From 1 July 2024 a number of new laws and amendments to existing laws will come into effect.
Serious misconduct and working when mentally unwell
In a recent decision of Mr Oliver Doherty v Defend Fire Services Pty Ltd T/A Defend Fire – [2024] FWC 1444 | Fair Work Commission the Fair Work Commission considered whether a worker who attended work whilst mentally unfit to do so, was unfairly dismissed.
National Minimum Wage increase
On 3 June 2024, the Fair Work Commission handed down its Annual Wage Review 2023-2024 decision and raised the National Minimum Wage and Award wages by 3.75%. Employers must pay the higher rates of pay from the first full pay period that starts on or after 1 July 2024.
Is a workplace investigation always necessary?
Not necessarily. Whether to conduct a workplace investigation depends on the specific circumstances of the situation and the policies of the organisation. In some cases, issues can be resolved informally without the need for a workplace investigation.