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Marie Boland’s Review of the Work Health and Safety Laws, Part 3: Safe Work Australia‘s Consultation Regulation Impact Statement

Nicki MilionisTanya PuriBy Nicki Milionis and Tanya Puri on Posted in Asia Pacific, Australia, General
On 24 June 2019, Safe Work Australia released a Consultation Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) seeking feedback on the possible impacts of implementing the recommendations of the Marie Boland independent review of the model Work Health and Safety Laws final report (Report). In February this year, Marie Boland (former Executive Director of SafeWork SA) delivered the Report which found the model … Continue reading

Migration Advisory Committee asked to review salary threshold by UK Government

Global Workplace InsiderLauren Pullen-Stanley (UK)By Amanda Sanders, Lauren Pullen-Stanley (UK) and Aida Geragusian on Posted in General, UK, Uncategorized
The Home Secretary has asked the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to review future salary thresholds for the new immigration system which is due to come into force in January 2021. As we mentioned in our blog post- The immigration white paper – what will it mean for the UK’s future immigration system? December 2018 – … Continue reading

Keeping your finger(print) on the pulse:  Employer’s warned of the risks associated with the collection of biometric data

Martin OsborneMatt WichlinskiBy Martin Osborne and Matt Wichlinski on Posted in Asia Pacific, Australia, General
The everyday use of biometric technology in contemporary society is nothing new. We live in a world where we regularly use fingerprint recognition for home security, facial recognition to open our phones and voice recognition to ask Siri to spice up a party by playing the latest Taylor Swift tune.  Despite the significant advancements and … Continue reading

Australian minimum wage to be increased by 3% to $19.49 per hour from 1 July 2019

Global Workplace InsiderBy Jodie Kessler on Posted in Asia Pacific, Australia, General
The Fair Work Commission has determined to award Australian workers a 3% increase on minimum wages. In the Annual Wage Review Decision handed down today, the Fair Work Commission has determined that from 1 July 2019: The national minimum wage and modern award minimum wages are to be increased by 3%. The national minimum wage … Continue reading

New laws in force to prevent “sharp corporate practices” of employers in avoiding payment of employee entitlements

David CrossNorah ChafardetBy David Cross and Norah Chafardet on Posted in Asia Pacific, Australia, General
The Corporations Amendment (Strengthening Protections for Employee Entitlements) Act 2019 (Act) received Royal Assent on 5 April 2019.[1]  The Act amends Part 5.8A of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Corporations Act) to discourage the use of “sharp corporate practices” used by employers to avoid paying employee entitlements when their business enters winding up, including improper … Continue reading

UK pensions: Does an employer have a duty to advise a dying employee on the implications of taking ill-health benefits early?

Lesley HarroldBy Lesley Harrold on Posted in Europe, General, UK
The smooth operation of a pension scheme depends on an efficient flow of information between the employer and the member. Frequently, the Pensions Ombudsman is asked to consider scheme trustees’ and employers’ duties on providing benefit information to members. Where the law is silent, this can be a tricky area to navigate and considerable uncertainty … Continue reading

Changes to British Columbia’s Workplace Legislation

Marino SveinsonBy Marino Sveinson on Posted in General
This week, the Honourable Harry Bains, B.C.’s Minister of Labour, submitted bills to the legislature to amend the province’s three major workplace-related statutes that fall under the Ministry of Labour’s jurisdiction: the Employments Standards Act, the Labour Relations Code, and the Workers Compensation Act. These bills must still go through the legislative process before they … Continue reading

Religious practices and workplace incapacity

Karen Ainslie (ZA)By Karen Ainslie (ZA) on Posted in General, South Africa
The Labour Appeal Court (LAC) has reaffirmed that employers must be tolerant of employee religious beliefs. In TDF Network Africa (Pty) Ltd v Deidre Beverley Faris, it ruled that the employee was discriminated against and unfairly dismissed for practising her religion. Faris, a Seventh Day Adventist, refused to attend monthly Saturday stock takes as her … Continue reading

Loi Pacte : Que faut-il en attendre dans les relations employeurs / salariés ?

Global Workplace InsiderBy Elodie Grangier on Posted in Contracts, Europe, France, General
La loi « Pacte » (Loi relative à la croissance et la transformation des entreprises) a été adoptée en lecture définitive par l’Assemblée Nationale le 11 avril dernier, après de longs mois de débats devant l’Assemblée Nationale et le Sénat. Elle a fait l’objet d’un recours devant le Conseil Constitutionnel, saisi le 16 avril dernier. Les commentaires … Continue reading

New code of practice for managing the mental health of FIFO workers

Samantha MaddernKathryn HunterBy Samantha Maddern and Kathryn Hunter on Posted in Asia Pacific, Australia, General
The Western Australian Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, in conjunction with the Commission for Occupational Safety and Health and the Mining Industry Advisory Committee, has released a Code of Practice “Mentally healthy workplaces for fly-in fly-out (FIFO) workers in the resources and construction sectors” (Code).[1]  The Code recommends implementing a risk-based approach to … Continue reading

Marie Boland’s Review of the Work Health and Safety Laws, Part 2: current status of industrial manslaughter provisions around Australia

Nicki MilionisBy Nicki Milionis on Posted in Asia Pacific, Australia, General
As reported in an earlier article on this blog, Marie Boland (former Executive Director of SafeWork SA) undertook the first review of the model Work Health and Safety (WHS) laws and delivered her report on 25 February 2019 (Report). The Report concluded that the model WHS laws are operating as intended and the “three-tier framework” … Continue reading

UK Employment law changes April 2019

Global Workplace InsiderBy Amanda Sanders on Posted in General, UK, Uncategorized
Despite Brexit dominating the headlines there are several key changes to employment law coming into force in April 2019. Extension of itemised pay statements to workers, not just employees – 6 April 2019   Currently, only employees are required to be given an itemised pay statement. From 6 April the Employment Rights Act (Itemised Pay … Continue reading

We all know what the new DOL salary numbers are, but what happens next?

Kimberly Cheeseman (US)Carolyn Webb (US)By Kimberly Cheeseman (US) and Carolyn Webb (US) on Posted in General, North America, United States
The US Department of Labor’s March 7, 2019 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking reset the salary requirements for the Fair Labor Standards Act’s white-collar exemptions. By now we all know the new numbers: the minimum salary threshold will increase from US$455 per week (US$23,660 annually) to US$679 per week (US$35,308 annually) for the executive, administrative, professional, … Continue reading

There’s a BEAR in there…

David CrossNazreen AliBy David Cross and Nazreen Ali on Posted in Asia Pacific, Australia, General
What is BEAR? The Banking Executive Accountability Regime (BEAR) is set out in Part IIAA of the Banking Act 1959 and took effect in February 2018. BEAR establishes accountability obligations for authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs) and their senior executives and directors. The regime also establishes deferred remuneration, key personnel and notification obligations for ADIs. An … Continue reading

Marie Boland’s Review of the model Work Health and Safety laws – industrial manslaughter, enhancing the Category 1 offence, and what it might mean for statutory safety duty holders

Katherine MorrisBy Katherine Morris on Posted in Australia, General
Since the start of this year, two directors have been sentenced to custodial terms for safety offences in relation to separate fatal incidents. In February this year,  Marie Boland’s Review of the model Work Health and Safety laws – Final report (Report) was released  which recommends including a new offence of industrial manslaughter in the … Continue reading

What to expect in 2019

Claire Darbourne (UK)By Claire Darbourne (UK) on Posted in Contracts, Europe, General, UK
Following a Government-commissioned review of employment working practices in the UK which was published in 2017, a number of developments in employment law reform are expected over the coming months. The Government published its latest proposals in December, covering a number of areas for change, some intended to improve the enforcement of employment rights, some … Continue reading

The immigration white paper – what will it mean for the UK’s future immigration system?

Lauren Pullen-Stanley (UK)By Lauren Pullen-Stanley (UK) and Amanda Sanders on Posted in Europe, General, UK
The UK Government has now published the White Paper on the future immigration system for the UK after it leaves the EU. It has confirmed, following many of the recommendations by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), that it will adopt a new single skills-based immigration system from 1 January 2021.  The new system will put … Continue reading

Recent changes to Modern Awards – What employers should know

Martin OsborneBy Martin Osborne on Posted in Asia Pacific, Australia, General
As part of the Commission’s four-yearly review of modern awards[1], the Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission (FWC) recently handed down a number of decisions[2] which have the effect of inserting a model casual conversion clause (Model Clause) into 84 Modern Awards[3] from 1 October 2018.  This provides “regular casual” employees the right to … Continue reading

Minority trade unions make good bedfellows

Karen Ainslie (ZA)By Karen Ainslie (ZA) on Posted in General, South Africa
In UASA, Solidaity and NUM v Lonmin Platinum PLC and AMCU (HO1312-18), the CCMA was tasked with determining the question of whether three minority trade unions, acting jointly, could obtain organisational rights at Lonmin in order to challenge the influence of the majority union (AMCU). Section 18 of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (the LRA) … Continue reading
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