Helene Lee

Changing the law for casual employees

By Helene Lee, Allana Smith and Joshua Richards on April 22, 2021 Posted in Asia Pacific, Australia

What has happened so far? Last month the Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Act 2021, also known as the Omnibus Legislation, came into effect. This reformed the legal definition of a casual employee and introduced a statutory definition of a “casual employee” for the first time in Australia. For a long … Continue reading

Global client-facing guide on the employment status of gig workers

By Helene Lee and William Dawes on January 26, 2021 Posted in Australia

Norton Rose Fulbright Australia’s Employment and Labour team has collaborated with our global counterparts to prepare a guide on the status of gig workers across various jurisdictions. The guide is available here. Employment and labour practitioners in each jurisdiction have set out the current employment status at law of gig workers, before explaining the grey … Continue reading

Workpac granted leave to appeal Rossato judgment

By Helene Lee and Electra Dow on November 26, 2020 Posted in Asia Pacific, Australia

On 26 November 2020, the High Court granted a special leave application made by labour hire company Workpac to appeal the Full Federal Court’s finding in the matter of Workpac Pty Ltd v Rossato [2020] FCAFC 84 (Rossato) which was handed down earlier this year. In Rossato, the Court held that a casual employee engaged … Continue reading

Victoria’s new minimum standards for compliance with the positive duty of employers to eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace

By Helene Lee and Allana Smith on August 24, 2020 Posted in Australia, General

In August 2020, the Victorian Equal Opportunity & Human Rights Commission released its new and updated guideline for complying with the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic) (Equal Opportunity Act): Preventing and responding to workplace sexual harassment (Guideline).… Continue reading

Victoria’s wage theft legislation

By Helene Lee and Daniel Macpherson on June 18, 2020 Posted in Australia

On 16 June 2020, the Victorian Parliament passed the Wage Theft Bill 2020 in response to a series of high-profile underpayment cases. The prevalence of these underpayments, according to Victorian Attorney-General Jill Hennessy, indicates that the civil penalty regime under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) is failing to provide a sufficient deterrent against wage … Continue reading

Crouch, bind, set: Folau to tackle Rugby Australia in the Federal Court

By Helene Lee on July 1, 2019 Posted in Asia Pacific, Australia, Contracts, Discrimination and harassment

The termination of Israel Folau’s $4m playing contract has set the scrum for a Federal Court case which is likely to shape the landscape of religious expression and vilification in the employment context. Background Folau’s controversial “warning” on Instagram stated that “Hell awaits” those who are “homosexuals … thieves and atheists”, among others, telling them … Continue reading

Model terms for annualised wages clause to be included in Modern Awards

By Helene Lee on March 19, 2019 Posted in Asia Pacific, Australia

As part of the Fair Work Commission’s (Commission) four-yearly review of Modern Awards[1], the Commission recently handed down a decision on 27 February 2019 (Decision)[2], to insert new model clauses for annual wages into Modern Awards. The Decision applied to 17 Modern Awards that currently contain annualised wage entitlements, and 2 Modern Awards that previously … Continue reading

Enterprise bargaining and the 7 day access period

By Helene Lee on September 24, 2018 Posted in Australia

There are a number of timelines under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) to be aware of when making and applying for approval of a single enterprise agreement. If these timelines are not complied with, it is likely that the agreement will not be approved by the Fair Work Commission (FWC). One such … Continue reading

Personal/carer’s leave sweeter for shiftworkers

By Helene Lee on September 20, 2018 Posted in Asia Pacific, Australia

In Mondelez Australia Pty Ltd [2018] FWC 2140 the Fair Work Commission (Commission) confirmed shiftworkers are entitled to 10 days of personal/carer’s leave to be taken and accrued as a daily entitlement based on the hours ordinarily worked by a particular employee in a day. As a result, shiftworkers are entitled to payment for the … Continue reading

Changes to Long Service Leave in Victoria, Australia

By Helene Lee on July 10, 2018 Posted in Australia

The Long Service Leave Act 2018 (Vic) (New Act) has received the Royal Assent and will commence on 1 November 2018 (or earlier). The New Act will replace the Long Service Leave Act 1992 (Vic) (Current Act). Some of the key changes are outlined below.… Continue reading

Freedom to tweet – no power to terminate public servant for anonymous political communication

By Helene Lee on April 27, 2018 Posted in Asia Pacific, Australia, Contracts

The AAT has found that the termination of employment of a former public servant who tweeted anonymously trespassed on the implied freedom of political communication and was therefore unlawful, in a decision which examined the scope and application of the Public Service Act 1999 (Cth) (PSA) in the context of reviewing a denied workers compensation … Continue reading

What do #MeToo and #TIMESUP mean in an Australian workplace context?

By Helene Lee on March 8, 2018 Posted in Asia Pacific, Australia

In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein allegations surfacing in October 2017, the ‘MeToo’ movement has gained widespread traction after women and men around the world started sharing their experiences of workplace sexual harassment and sexual violence on twitter using the hashtag #MeToo. In circumstances where one in five people surveyed by the Australian Human Rights … Continue reading

Fair Work Commission considers award provision allowing employers to deduct pay where an employee fails to give sufficient notice

By Helene Lee on November 21, 2017 Posted in Asia Pacific, Australia

As part of its four yearly review of modern awards, the Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission (FWC) has recently considered whether a clause found in many modern awards allowing employers to make deductions from an employee’s termination pay (where the employee fails to give sufficient notice of resignation) should be removed, changed or … Continue reading

A New Era in Franchising Compliance is Here

By Stephen Giles and Helene Lee on September 17, 2017 Posted in Asia Pacific, Australia

The Federal Government’s Protecting Vulnerable Workers Bill received the Royal Assent on 14 September 2017. With the exception of the provisions in relation to responsible franchisors (which commence on 27 October 2017), the Fair Work Amendment (Protection of Vulnerable Workers) Act 2017 (Cth) (Act) commenced on Friday 15 September 2017. We recommend that franchisors take … Continue reading

Gaming in the workplace: Pokémon Yes or Pokémon No?

By Helene Lee and Nicki Milionis on August 1, 2016 Posted in Asia Pacific, Australia

Pokémon Go has taken Australia and the world by storm since its release earlier this month. The game sees users hunt for Pokémon using augmented reality technology and the GPS on their smartphones.… Continue reading

Agreement making by ‘start ups’

By Helene Lee on December 8, 2014 Posted in Australia

In a decision which considered agreement making for “start ups”, the Fair Work Commission has held that there was nothing unusual or untoward in a relatively new business making an enterprise agreement early in its life with a small number of employees with an expectation that the business will grow and eventually employ a much … Continue reading

Employees’ rights and obligations regarding the use of social media in Australia

By Helene Lee on November 28, 2014 Posted in Australia, Discrimination and harassment

The use of social media in Australia continues to grow on a daily basis. There are now over 13.4 million daily users of Facebook, 3.9 million active users of LinkedIn and over 2.7 million monthly users of Twitter (Source: Social Media Statistics Australia). There is a good chance that one, if not all of your employees … Continue reading