Leading commentary and perspectives on employment and labor law
There have been some important amendments to the Industrial Relations Act 1996 (NSW) (IR Act) and the Industrial Relations (General) Regulation 2020 (NSW) (IR Regulations) as a result of the Industrial Relations and Other Legislation Amendment (Workplace Protections) Bill 2025 (NSW) (the Bill) which was passed by the NSW Government on 26 June 2025.
The…
This article was co-authored with Kate Green and Rachael Lee.
Amidst an exponential increase in wage theft and pay compliance matters, the proliferation of underpayment proceedings in recent years has created complexity as employers face a hotbed of often overlapping and competing claims from employees, unions, third party funders and the Fair Work Ombudsman (the…
The third tranche of the Federal Government’s industrial relations reforms was introduced to Parliament on 4 September 2023 to make good on a number of reforms foreshadowed in the most recent Federal election and at the 2022 Jobs and Skills Summit.
After a year of significant development in the employment and industrial relations space, the…
This article was co-authored with Lachlan Crosbie.
Employers need to be aware of key changes to legislation protecting employee rights which will commence in the coming months.
The Fair Work Legislation (Protecting Employee Entitlements) Act 2023 (Protecting Employee Entitlements Act) marks the Government’s second major reform to the Fair Work Act 2009 (…
On 24 June 2021, the Federal Government introduced the Sex Discrimination and Fair Work (Respect at Work) Amendments Bill 2021 (Cth) (Bill) into the Senate. The Bill amends both the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) (SDA) and the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FWA) in response to the Respect@Work…
On 17 June 2021, the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) released the “Equality across the board: Investing in workplaces that work for everyone (2021)” report (AHRC Report). The report collates survey and interview data from 118 ASX200 listed companies to portray how these companies are currently combatting the issue…
In mid-March 2021, amendments were sought to the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) (SD Act) by independent member Ms Zali Steggall OAM introducing the Sex Discrimination Amendment (Prohibiting All Sexual Harassment) Bill (Bill). If passed, the Bill will address some of the shortcomings in the SD Act which were initially highlighted…
The recent Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) national survey on sexual harassment has made it clear that sexual harassment in the Australian workplace is increasing. In June 2018, the AHRC announced a National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in the Workplace in order to report, on other things, the prevalence and reporting of harassment and the…
The Australian Human Rights Commission (Commission) has recently launched an inquiry into sexual harassment in Australian workplaces (Inquiry). It seems that the ‘watershed’ moment that the #MeToo campaign was hailed as, has indeed driven the momentum to keep the issue alive and for meaningful action to come from it.
There can be little argument that a culture that tolerates, condones or rewards inappropriate conduct or the wrong behaviours creates real and significant risk for an organisation – from a legal, commercial and reputational perspective. It is essential, both at Board and executive level, that there is an awareness and understanding of the organisation’s culture or cultures and the risks that arise through such a culture and, most importantly, that steps are taken to mitigate or remove those risks. Indeed, organisational culture and behaviours that are rewarded, encouraged or ignored, have been a key focus in the Financial Services Royal Commission and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
When an organisation is considering making redundancies, it is important to consider whether employees who are pregnant or on parental leave are afforded any special protections under Australian law.
Both the Fair Work Act 2009 and anti-discrimination legislation include provisions particularly relating to pregnancy and parental leave, including the right to return to the same or a similar position. The fact that declaring a position redundant may result in the termination of an individual’s employment means consideration must be had to whether the termination employee’s employment is in fact lawful, even if there are genuine grounds for making a position redundant. This takes into account whether the termination violates any of the protections afforded to pregnant and parental leave employees. In addition, the fact that the Fair Work Act 2009 provides a reverse onus of proof for adverse action matters means that there is an even higher obligation on employers to ensure that the redundancy was lawful in all of the circumstances.
The position in Australia can be contrasted against the position in France, for example, where employers are not allowed to dismiss an employee from the moment she is medically certified as being pregnant and must reinstate an employee who was terminated when pregnant when informed of her pregnancy. The position in France is discussed in an earlier post which can be assessed at the following link.
