Articles
The Fair Work Commission has set the benchmark for employers seeking to reduce the amount of redundancy pay payable to employees who were made redundant due to a downturn in business as a result of COVID-19. Earlier this month, the FWC heard an application from Mason Architectural Joinery Pty Ltd, a small joinery and cabinet making business in Melbourne, and three applications from Worthington Industries Pty Ltd, which commercially manufactures products for the building, furniture, caravan and rail industries. Both businesses sought to reduce the amount of redundancy pay payable to employees on the basis that COVID-19 had caused a downturn in business…
Read MoreThe unprecedented disruption caused by coronavirus (COVID-19) has left many employers considering their immediate options to reduce expenditure over the coming weeks and months. In most cases, substantial cost-savings may be able to be achieved by consulting with employees about reducing their hours of work by agreement or taking annual leave until the business is able to recover. However, should these avenues prove unsuccessful the only option available to employers to ensure the continuation of their business may be to make positions redundant. Where at least 15 employees are made redundant, employers are also required to notify Centrelink in writing…
Read MoreReceiving notice of any legal proceedings is enough to make the blood run cold of most business owners and HR professionals. For many, the process of defending such an application can be time consuming and emotionally taxing. While much work has been done to simplify and streamline Fair Work Commission processes, employers often find complying with these rules and procedural steps to be quite daunting. In some cases, this can lead to parties becoming disengaged from the proceedings, which only makes things worse for both themselves and the other party. The advice of experienced professionals can assist greatly in navigating…
Read MoreIn the current economic climate, it is critical for businesses to constantly identify opportunities to improve efficiency and reduce expenditure. While the prospect of redundancies is certainly not pleasant, they are often times unavoidable. Alongside the factors that necessitate a redundancy in the first place, it is also important for businesses to understand the many implications associated with redundancies, and the protections and entitlements available to employees who have been made redundant. In this article we break down the two sides to a redundancy: genuine redundancy as a response to a termination claim, and the entitlement to receive redundancy pay.…
Read MoreATO says it’s time for business to move to myGovID: Deadline approaching of AUSkey retiring in March
If you’re about to lodge a Business Activity Statement (BAS) through the ATO’s Business Portal, now is the time to make the switch. On 27 March, the ATO and 26 other government agencies will retire the decade old AUSkey and the Manage ABN Connections login credentials. This means anyone who uses the ATO’s Business Portal or a range of other government online services will need to setup and use myGovID. The myGovID app is available to download to your smart device, using security features in your device such as fingerprint, face or password to help keep your information secure. This…
Read MoreInvestigating an allegation of sexual harassment in the workplace can be one of the greatest challenges a HR professional or employer can face. An allegation of sexual harassment in the workplace carries with it a number of significant implications. For the person making the complaint (or ‘complainant’), who may have already suffered a physical or psychological injury, there is the real possibility of retribution for having spoken out. For the person accused of sexual harassment (or ‘respondent’), in the case of vexatious complaints, the danger of personal and professional reputational damage cannot be understated. For the investigator responsible for determining…
Read MoreAs we’ve entered a new year, we’ve seen the emergence of a new danger, in the form of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. The first cases were reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan, in Hubei Province on 31 December 2019 when a number of people were diagnosed with pneumonia like symptoms, and since then has spread throughout the world, including to Australia, with 12 cases confirmed in Australia. With the death toll at 362, and more than 17,300 infections confirmed globally, countries around the world are currently engaging in a range of quarantine measures to try to stem…
Read MoreIt is a common misconception that once an employee is paid a salary, a modern award no longer applies to their employment. Whether a modern award applies to a person mostly depends on the duties they perform, and while their salary can be indicative of their level of responsibility, it is by no means determinative. Some modern awards (for example, the General Retail Industry Award 2010) do not provide any heightened obligations when an employee is paid a salary compared to when they are paid on an hourly basis. Under these awards, the general rule is that an employee being paid…
Read MoreEmployers often spruik their ‘zero tolerance’ drug and alcohol policies when trumpeting their safety and workplace processes and cultures. However, the Fair Work Commission has also been promoting a ‘zero tolerance’ approach of its own towards unfair dismissals. In a recent decision by Deputy President Sams, a former employee of Sydney Trains has been reinstated after being dismissed for breaching one of these ‘zero tolerance’ policies. This case demonstrates that while employers may have a ‘zero tolerance’ policy, this does not mean that any ‘harsh, unjust or unreasonable’ element in a decision to dismiss an employee is automatically forgiven. Mr…
Read MoreWith the year almost over, it’s time to reflect on the lessons learned in 2019, and prepare for the start of a new decade. In January, we predicted that compliance would continue to be a major factor affecting retail businesses, however for reasons that require no explanation, this was somewhat of an underestimation. In a surprise result, the Coalition held onto Government in the 2019 Federal Election, and the broad sweeping changes to the industrial relations landscape promised by Labor were not realised. However notwithstanding this, there has been no shortage of challenges to the status quo: personal/carer’s leave has been thrown into a tail…
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