Articles
With 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…
Read MoreSince before the introduction of the Fair Work Act it has taken more than just a valid reason to dismiss an employee. From providing an opportunity to respond, to not refusing a request for a support person – these additional ‘procedural fairness’ steps are viewed by many as merely stages on the conveyor belt to dismissal. It is easy, then for even the most experienced HR professional to forget that these rules were not developed in isolation, and that asking the right questions can sometimes avoid an embarrassing foray in the Fair Work Commission. The recent decision of Susan Edwards…
Read MoreDespite strong objection from industry, the Queensland’s Parliament today passed a Bill to make Christmas Eve a part-day public holiday – all work in Queensland after 6:00pm on 24th December will now be treated as a public holiday. For employers who had planned on trading on Christmas Eve past 6:00pm, your full-time and part-time employees are now entitled to be absent from work if they were going to be rostered past this time. Managing absences You must request that your employees work past this time, and your employees may refuse your request if it is unreasonable, or for reasonable grounds.…
Read MoreWith “wage theft” being a hot topic politically, Parliaments around Australia have undertaken inquiries into the matter at a State level since 2018. Following inquiries into “wage theft” in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, the Federal Opposition has established a similar inquiry to be conducted by the Senate Economics References Committee. Although the State-based inquiries have made many recommendations without the constitutional power to put them into effect, this will be the first inquiry of this kind at a level of government which is able to contemplate legislative change to put the recommendations of the inquiry into practice. …
Read MoreWith many Queensland and New South Wales residents displaced from homes due to large-scale bushfires and wide swathes of the country on high fire alert, many employers are contending with the impact these natural disasters may have on their business and their employees. This is why it is important for employers to understand their rights in managing employees in the midst of a natural disaster. Section 524 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) provides that employers may “stand down” an employee without pay during a period in which the employee cannot be usefully employed, because of a stoppage of…
Read MoreBusinesses are experiencing an increase in chargeback fraud following changes to the transaction disputation rules of major card providers. In 2018, both Visa and MasterCard changed their transaction disputation rules to make the process of challenging a transaction more timely and cost-effective. As these cards are issued by financial institutions rather than by Visa and MasterCard themselves, the various financial institutions (banks, credit societies etc.) also changed their rules relating to disputed transactions and chargebacks. The impact of the changes Because of these changes, the majority of financial institutions will now accept that a transaction made online (whether through…
Read MoreDespite legal protections against sexual harassment existing for some time, it remains an ever present issue in the workplace. The commonality of sexual harassment may be because what constitutes “sexual harassment” is broader than what most likely comes to mind when individuals consider the expression. Inappropriate physical contact is one of the more obvious examples, but a wide range of conduct can be captured by the legal definition of sexual harassment. Some of the most common forms of sexual harassment are sexually suggestive comments or jokes, or inappropriate questioning. “Sexual harassment” is defined in similar terms under both State and…
Read MoreLast week the Queensland Government passed new laws that will change the state’s Workers’ Compensation scheme by introducing some greater responsibilities on employers and insurers, and expanding the scope of coverage for the scheme. The Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019 (Qld) proposes to adopt a number of recommendations from last year’s five year review of the state’s Workers’ Compensation scheme (see the full report here) by Professor David Peetz, and covers range of areas, including: the limitation period for applying for compensation; psychological and psychiatric injuries; and unpaid internships. In this update, we will unpack…
Read MoreThe Federal Government has offered employers some clarity around recruiting applicants with criminal records, after the Australian Human Rights Commission (‘AHRC’) found that Suncorp discriminated against a job applicant with a record. The Australian Human Rights Commission Regulations 2019 (‘the new regulations’) [1], which commenced on 1 October 2019, have replaced the Australian Human Rights Commission Regulations 1989 (‘the regulations’). The changes are intended to ensure the regulations are in line with modern community expectations. In particular, the new regulations allow employers to exercise “reasonable discretion against prospective employees if their criminal record is relevant to the position being applied…
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