Tag archives: fair work act

Legacy Employers: Who are they? Can they still access the temporary JobKeeper enabling directions under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth)?

Photo of David CrossBy David Cross and Norah Chafardet on Posted in Australia, Coronavirus
When extending Part 6-4C of the Fair Work Act (Cth) (FW Act), the government recognised there would be employers who had previously qualified for the JobKeeper scheme, but who would no longer qualify to participate in the scheme following its extension past the end of September 2020.… Continue reading

Caution for employers: redundancy entitlement when employer changes employment conditions and employee continues working for their employer

Photo of David CrossBy David Cross and Norah Chafardet on Posted in Australia
The Federal Court of Australia (FCA) recently considered this issue in Broadlex Services Pty Ltd v United Workers’ Union [2020] FCA 867,[1] holding that an employee who was required to transfer her full-time employment to part-time was entitled to redundancy pay, because the employer no longer required the full-time job to be performed by anyone. … Continue reading

Post-Election 2016 Briefing: Likely Amendments to the Fair Work Act

Global Workplace InsiderBy Global Workplace Insider Team on Posted in Asia Pacific, Australia
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has claimed victory in the federal election, as the Coalition achieved the slim majority in Australia’s federal parliament. We briefly outline the likely key amendments to the Fair Work Act, as promised by the Coalition Government prior to the election, and other possible amendments to the workplace relations legislative framework.… Continue reading

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

Photo of Helene LeeBy Helene Lee on 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

Uncertainty over “workplace right”

Photo of David CrossBy David Cross on Posted in Australia
More than five years after the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the Act) commenced operation, uncertainty still attaches to the meaning of “workplace right”, which is a critical concept in the operation of the Act’s “general protections”. General protections The Act makes it unlawful for an employer to take “adverse action” against an employee (which … Continue reading

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

Photo of Jason NoakesPhoto of Jenny SmithBy Jason Noakes and Jenny Smith on Posted in Australia
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

Court fines employer for failing to allow employee to meet carer’s responsibilities

Photo of Jason NoakesBy Jason Noakes on Posted in Australia
Transport Workers’ Union of Australia v Atkins [2014] FCCA 1553 (18 August 2014) The Federal Circuit Court has recently ordered a transport operator to pay close to the maximum penalty for summarily dismissing the employee after he took carer’s leave to take his daughter to a medical appointment with a specialist. The facts The employee was … Continue reading

Australia: Employees’ rights on redundancy

Global Workplace InsiderBy Jodie Kessler on Posted in Australia
Rights of employees upon redundancy of their position and in the case of any resulting termination of the employee’s employment will depend upon whether the employee falls into the Federal employment and industrial relations jurisdiction (National System Employees) or under the jurisdiction of the State in which the employee works. National System Employees National System … Continue reading

Employees with child care responsibilities – what are an employer’s obligations?

Global Workplace InsiderBy guestauthor on Posted in Australia
In this post we provide an overview of the following two types of obligations that an employer has under Australian law when it comes to employees with child care responsibilities: considering and responding to flexible working arrangement requests; and preventing discrimination on the grounds of family or child care responsibilities. We also provide some practical … Continue reading

Is notice of dismissal a dismissal under the Fair Work Act?

Global Workplace InsiderBy guestauthor on Posted in Australia
In a novel decision, the Fair Work Commission (the FWC) has held that it has jurisdiction to hear an unfair dismissal application under the Fair Work Act 2009 (FW Act) that was made after the employer has given notice of termination, but before the employment relationship ended. In Mr Michael Kovac v Aboriginal Legal Service … Continue reading
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