Jenny Smith

Subscribe to all posts by Jenny Smith

Protecting Worker Entitlements reforms – more key dates for employers

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 (FW Act). The … Continue reading

Accessorial Liability – Third Party Advisors

The recent case of EZY Accounting 123 Pty Ltd v Fair Work Ombudsman [2018] FCAFC 134 demonstrates the broad reach of the accessorial liability provisions under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the Act).  In this case the Full Federal Court (FFC) dismissed the appeal of an accounting firm which was found by the Federal … Continue reading

Genuine Redundancy and Redeployment – Job Swapping Reasonable in All the Circumstances?

In the recent case of Skinner et al v Asciano Services Pty Ltd T/A Pacific National Bulk [2017] FWCFB 574 the Full Bench found that an employer breached its obligation to explore redeployment options under s.389(2) of the Fair Work Act 2009 after making 7 of its employees redundant without properly considering job swaps and … Continue reading

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 … Continue reading

New IR bill: Have you thought about workplace productivity?

The Fair Work Amendment (Bargaining Processes) Bill 2014 (the Bill) was recently introduced into Parliament and has a strong focus on workplace productivity and progressing the bargaining process. If the Bill is passed it will require the Fair Work Commission (FWC), when approving enterprise agreements (but not greenfields deals), to be satisfied that parties discussed … Continue reading

Sham contracting: Become an independent contractor, or you’re fired!

With ever increasing economic pressures employers are frequently required to consider ways to reduce employment and labour costs. While there are many ways to lawfully achieve this, requiring an employee to become an independent contractor performing the same work, certainly isn’t one of them. The recent case of The Director of the Fair Work Building … Continue reading
LexBlog