Employment
Time for employers to prepare for the right to disconnect
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.
Can Performance Improvement Plans be bullying?
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.
Using AI recruitment tools
General protections from unlawful discrimination under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) apply to both employees and prospective employees. It is important to ensure that reliance on tools such as AI in recruitment processes do not infringe on the protections from discrimination that are afforded to prospective employees. The list of attributes that are protected …
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Significant changes around casual employees laws
In other important changes to the Fair Work Act 2001 (Cth), the definition of ‘casual’ and the process of casual conversion have been significantly amended with the changes coming into effect on 26 August 2024.
Fair Work Ombudsman taking action for underpayments and payslip breaches
Employers are reminded that the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) will take action where they believe employees are not receiving their entitlements. The FWO is currently seeking orders against a Melbourne based labour hire company, Oz ESDM Pty Ltd, to rectify an alleged underpayment of wages under the Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020 and failure …
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Fair Work amendments: independent contractor or employee?
In February 2024, the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes No. 2) Act 2024 (the Act) re-introduced the “multifactorial” test for whether a worker is legally considered to be an independent contractor or an employee. That is, the Act requires an assessment of all of the circumstances of each work arrangement to be made in …
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The Right to Disconnect
In a bid to address the growing concerns of work-life balance and the intrusion of work into personal time, the right to disconnect amendment to the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the Act) was passed by the House of Representatives on 12 February 2024.
Hearing Testing Requirements under WHS Regulations
The model Work Health and Safety Regulations introduced new requirements for audiometric testing which commenced on from 1 January 2024. The relevant provisions are mirrored in all jurisdictions, except for Western Australia and Queensland, which have not adopted the relevant testing requirements as included in the Model Work Health and Safety Regulations.
Zombie Agreement Termination
Employers need to be aware that from 7 December 2023, all zombie agreements, other than those for which the Fair Work Commission has granted an extension, have been replaced by relevant modern awards made by the Fair Work Commission (FWC) under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (Fair Work Act).
Superannuation under the National Employment Standards
As of 1 January 2024 the National Employment Standards (NES) include a right to superannuation for national system employees. The Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Protecting Worker Entitlements) Act 2023 has amended the Fair Work Act 2009 by, among other things, requiring national system employers to make contributions to a superannuation fund for the benefit of …
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