With just about 90 days to go before the U.S. Department of Labor’s final rule dramatically updating overtime regulations is scheduled to go into effect, small business owners have petitioned the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division seeking more time to prepare for and implement changes to the way they operate their businesses so that they
What rights and protections are there for workers on zero hours contracts in the UK?
In the UK, a zero hours worker is a casual worker engaged on a zero hours contract. A zero hours contract is defined in UK legislation as a contract of employment or other worker’s contract under which a worker undertakes to perform work conditionally on the employer making such work available, but there is no
The Duty to Mitigate and its Impact on Damages
Employer clients often ask during a wrongful or constructive dismissal lawsuit what damages may be awarded. One relevant consideration is the common law duty to mitigate. A wrongfully dismissed employee has a duty to mitigate his or her damages by attempting to find alternate employment. The question of whether an employee has met his or
What rights and protections are there for workers on zero hours contracts in Germany?
Unlike in the U.K. and other EU member states, zero hours contracts are not (yet) common practice in Germany. To date, other arrangements aimed at achieving “flexible working” such as fixed-term or part-time contracts, secondment of personnel and – more recently – contracts to provide services have been more widespread. However, as German case law
How to Successfully Include a Restrictive Covenant in a Current Employment Contract
In order to best protect the employer’s commercial interests and competitiveness, it is often crucial to include restrictive covenants in employment contracts. It is of equal importance to ensure that these covenants respect the limits established in the case law for them to be enforceable by the courts. Indeed, they may be deemed null and
Ontario Court of Appeal rules on the Duty to Mitigate in Howard v. Benson Group
The Ontario Court of Appeal recently considered the common law principles of reasonable notice and the duty to mitigate in the context of fixed-term employment contracts in Howard v Benson Group Inc. Howard, the plaintiff, was employed at an automotive service centre pursuant to a five-year fixed term contract. He was terminated without cause
High Court clarifies meaning of Victorian manual handling regulations
The High Court has recently clarified the operation of the manual handling provisions in the Victorian Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2007 (Vic) (the Regulations) in Deal v Kodakkathanath [2016] HCA 31 and held that a jury should have been allowed to hear and consider an injured employee’s claim that her employer breached the Regulations.
The Foreign Nationals Employment Act
Financial risks when using foreign workers in the Netherlands
Hiring contractors or temporary employment agencies that employ foreign workers in the Netherlands, can create financial risks of which you should be aware. If foreign workers carry out activities for the benefit of your business, you should comply with legal obligations under the Foreign Nationals Employment
Insurance premiums can push an employee over the high income threshold and exclude them from the Federal unfair dismissal regime
Subject to limited exclusions, employees will have access to the unfair dismissal regime under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) if their annual rate of earnings is less than the high income threshold. Currently the high income threshold is $138,900.
For the purpose of assessing whether the high income threshold applies in relation to the dismissal of an employee at a particular time, certain payments applied or dealt with on behalf of the employee are included.
A recent full bench decision of the Fair Work Commission in Savannah Nickel Mines Pty Ltd v Crowley [2016] FWCFB 2630 held that an employer’s payment of a death cover insurance premium was included for the purpose of assessing whether the high income threshold applied to the employee involved.
Reasonable Notice Claims – Update
It is generally accepted that the common law will imply a term of “reasonable notice” into a contract of employment which makes no provision for termination notice. However, this general rule was displaced by the case of Brennan v Kangaroo Island Council [2013] SASCFC 151 which found that reasonable notice may not be implied in circumstances where an employee is covered by a modern award which prescribes a period of termination notice. Recent cases have considered whether s 117 of the Fair Work Act 2009, which prescribes a minimum period of termination notice, should also displace the general rule. Whilst this was supported by the South Australian District Court in Kuczmarski v Ascot Administration P/L [2016] SADC 65, in the more recent case of McGowan v Direct Mail and Marketing Pty Ltd [2016] FCCA 2227 Judge McNab of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia (FCCA) confirmed that s 117 provides minimum periods of termination notice only, and consequently does not displace a right to implied reasonable notice.