Employment

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.

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.

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.

From 1 July 2024 a number of new laws and amendments to existing laws will come into effect.

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.  

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.

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.

Employers are reminded that the right to disconnect commences in less than three months, with a commencement date of 26 August 2024. Small businesses have an additional six months to prepare.

Employers or any level of management have the authority to take reasonable management action where an employee is not performing to their expected standard of performance. Despite this, the Fair Work Commission has considered whether performance improvement plans (PIPs), or the repeated application of them, could constitute workplace bullying.