Yesterday, 30 October 2019, the Workplace Safety Legislation Amendment (Workplace Manslaughter and Other Matters) Bill 2019 (Vic) (the Bill) received its second reading speech in the Victorian Legislative Assembly. The Bill, if passed, provides for the new offence of ‘workplace manslaughter’ to come into operation on a day to be proclaimed or on
October 2019
Industrial Manslaughter laws introduced to Victorian parliament today
As reported in our earlier article (found here), the Victorian government announced in 2018 that it would introduce an industrial manslaughter offence. The Minister for Workplace Safety, The Hon Jill Hennessy, today announced that new ‘workplace manslaughter’ laws were introduced in Parliament.
The Workplace Safety Legislation Amendment (Workplace Manslaughter and other matters) Bill…
First Industrial Manslaughter prosecution in Queensland
On Friday the Minister for Industrial Relations announced the first prosecution in Queensland for industrial manslaughter under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld) (the Act). The industrial manslaughter prosecution has been brought against Brisbane Auto Recycling Pty Ltd (Brisbane Auto) arising from the fatality of a worker killed by…
Legal advice privilege in employment
A recent decision in the UK Court of Appeal has provided guidance in the area of privilege in employment claims.
In Curless v Shell International Ltd, the Court of Appeal had to consider whether legal advice privilege should be disapplied to an email on the basis that the advice fell within the “iniquity principle”.
Legal…
UK Pensions – new criminal offences relating to corporate transactions under the Pension Schemes Bill 2019
In its response to its June 2018 consultation on plans to improve the powers of the Pensions Regulator, the Government’s stated aim was to better protect members’ benefits in corporate deals. This was to be achieved by improving the ability of both the Regulator and scheme trustees to monitor relevant corporate transactions and other events…
Allégations d’harcèlement psychologique dans l’exercice d’activités syndicales : l’employeur doit-il intervenir ou bien s’abstenir?
Bien connue est l’obligation de l’employeur en vertu de la Loi sur les normes du travail (LNT) de prévenir le harcèlement psychologique, d’enquêter lorsqu’un tel comportement est porté à son attention et d’intervenir pour faire cesser la conduite harcelante. Mais que se passe-t-il lorsqu’une plainte est déposée à l’employeur pour harcèlement psychologique entre…
Extension of whistleblowing protection
Workers in the UK are protected from suffering a detriment where they have made a protected disclosure under the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996). To be protected under section 47B ERA 1996 the individual must be a worker as defined by s203(3) of that Act. A recent decision of the Supreme Court considered whether…
UK Pensions: Paying for the sins of the fathers – how far back must you make up pension underpayments?
Trustees of UK pension schemes which include old guaranteed minimum pensions have got a bit of a dilemma on their hands at the moment. They have to equalise benefits between men and women to paper over the inherent inequality in the GMPs themselves, which means correcting past underpayments. There are many questions raised by…
France: The complex consequences of the occurrence of gross misconduct during the notice period
The general rule under French law is that when employment contracts are terminated, employees are entitled to a prior notice period, the length of which depends on the status of the employee (executive or non-executive), their length of service, and in some cases their age.
The applicable rules are generally set by the sector-wide collective…
Check-in for a Check-up – An Employer’s Duty to Make Inquiries
Excessive absenteeism is one of the most difficult issues facing human resource professionals today. It is also one of the more complex areas of labour and employment law. One of the reasons why excessive absenteeism is so complicated is because it often raises human rights implications.
The perfect example is found in Coast Mountain Bus…