May 2017

The WorkSafe Legislation Amendment Bill 2017 (Vic) (the Bill) amends the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic) (OHS Act), along with others including the Dangerous Goods Act 1985 (Vic). The Bill has received its second reading in the Legislative Assembly and is listed for resumed debate on 24 May 2017.  If passed, the Part dealing with the OHS Act is intended (according to the explanatory memorandum) to come into operation on 1 July 2017 and the remaining provisions at least by 21 March 2018 (if not proclaimed).

It is not only employees who have the right to claim discrimination: Applicants for employment can also be discriminated against. Employers must therefore ensure that any recruitment process is not discriminatory.

A recent case of Government Legal Service –v- Brookes considered a recruitment process to the Government Legal Service (GLS).  Applicants to that service are…

On May 1, 2017, the minimum wage in Québec was raised from $10.75/hr to $11.25/hr. Although not as substantial as the increases that have recently been implemented in other North American jurisdictions, this raise is still significant when compared with the average annual increase implemented in the province for the past 10 years.

Some employers…

The Fair Work Commission has recently made orders reinstating four employees whose employment had been terminated for reason of redundancy. The decision is a timely reminder of the importance of employers ensuring that they consult in a meaningful and genuine way with affected employees in a redundancy situation, where those employees are covered by an award or other industrial instrument.

If your business is considering making an enterprise agreement, you must strictly comply with the procedural requirements of the Fair Work Act 2009 (FW Act) and ensure you use the newly amended Notice of Employee Representational Rights. For those who have already commenced bargaining, small mistakes made during the bargaining process may mean the parties’ agreement cannot be approved and the entire bargaining process must start all over again, which can be very costly and frustrating for all parties.