Employment

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Can you control what your employees post on social media?

The boundaries between public life and private life, specifically in relation to the workplace and the home, have become porous. And the question for many organisations is whether they can control what their employees post on social media. The answer, like most legal answers, is that it depends on the circumstances and more particularly what …
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Canberra’s New Reportable Conduct Scheme – child protection obligations in the employment space

The new Reportable Conduct Scheme is now effective in Canberra, as of 1 July 2017. The ACT government passed legislation introducing the Scheme subsequent to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The Scheme is designed to ensure that allegations concerning child protection are identified, reported and acted on appropriately, at an …
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AFP workforce says “NO”

Yesterday, AFP employees delivered a clear message to the AFP Executive that they will not accept the Enterprise Agreement being offered by the AFP. 87.2% of employees cast a vote, and of those 80.88% voted no, meaning that only 19.12% voted yes. To set the scene, the circumstances leading into the vote were as follows: …
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The Importance of Performance Management in a ‘Throw-Away’ Culture Era

The importance of performance management to private employers and government departments cannot be overstated. Performance management is more than the process of evaluating and managing employees to ensure that the employer is meeting its obligations. The benefits to effectively managing employees can be wide-reaching to both employers and employees, especially when you consider the huge …
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Cleaning up a Toxic Workplace Culture

In recent years, the concept of workplace culture has come into the spotlight exposing some of Australia’s largest organisations, including the Australian Defence Force in 2013, and more recently during 2016, the Australian Federal Police (AFP). The recent independent review into the workplace culture of the AFP by former Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick has …
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Employment Contracts: Restraint of Trade Clauses

Restraint of trade clauses are often included in employment contracts, to restrain employees from certain activities which may threaten the business of the employer. Restraint of trade clauses are difficult to enforce, and may only be enforced to the extent necessary to protect the employer’s legitimate business interests. The types of actions that employers often …
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Upholding a respectful workplace

Upholding a respectful workplace: what can employers do to ensure that dismissals based on misconduct are not deemed unfair? There have been a number of recent cases relating to the termination of employees for misconduct relating to behaviours that could be considered improper, or not “politically correct”. Examples of such behaviour include: swearing and using …
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Taking the heat out of performance management

Every employer will at some point have to engage in a performance management process with staff who aren’t meeting the expected standards. As with any area of employee management, if performance management isn’t conducted effectively, an employee who does not improve may have successful grounds to challenge a termination. Many employers shy away from performance …
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