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From midnight on Wednesday, 5 August 2020, Victoria will enter Stage 4 restrictions and all non-essential retailers located in the Melbourne metropolitan area will be restricted to contactless ‘click and collect’ and delivery services. The restrictions will last for at least the next 6 weeks, and as such it is important for retailers to understand the options available to manage their staff over this period. In preparation for midnight on Wednesday, 5 August 2020, you may need to consider standing down your workers. During this time, it is important to continue to manage your legal and compliance obligations. There are…
Read MoreIn a fascinating case before the Federal Court of Australia, Justice Steward considered whether a prospective employee has a workplace right to make inquiries about their prospective employment. Such a question obviously has significant ramifications for how an employer conducts itself when negotiating contract terms with prospective employees. Case: Maric v Ericsson Australia Pty Ltd [2020] FCA 452 Background to the case In March 2019, Ms Maric was offered the position of Health, Safety and Environmental Specialist by Ericsson Australia Pty Ltd (Ericsson Australia). She was sent an employment contract that she did not sign. Instead, she sought legal advice in…
Read MoreToday, the Prime Minister announced that the JobKeeper package would be extended from 27 September 2020 until 28 March 2021. This news comes as welcome relief as businesses still struggle with uncertainty, particularly with the situation in Victoria demonstrating how quickly circumstances can change. There will, however, be changes to both the amount of the JobKeeper payments and the businesses that can claim them. Two stages of JobKeeper extension The first important difference is that the extension to the JobKeeper scheme is divided into two three-month periods: 28 September 2020 – 3 January 2021; and 4 January 2021 – 28 March…
Read MoreWhen the Fair Work Act 2009 was amended in 2017 to allow franchisors to be penalised for the non-compliance of their franchisees if they failed to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent contraventions from occurring, the Fair Work Ombudsman quickly placed the franchising model into its spotlight. This increased focus has led to the FWO carrying out numerous investigations into franchisees and their franchisors, in some cases leading to the imposition of fines and other penalties. However, preceding these penalties is a rigorous and highly regulated investigation process. Recently United Petroleum, the franchisor for United Petroleum petrol stations, was the subject of an investigation,…
Read MoreThe Fair Work Commission has, for the first time in the short life of the JobKeeper jurisdiction, tested exactly how far a JobKeeper stand down direction can go in reducing an employee’s hours. In a decision handed down earlier this week, Deputy President Peter Anderson determined that the employer had gone too far in reducing the employee’s hours, and instead altered the direction to provide for a lesser reduction. Jones v Live Events Australia Pty Ltd [2020] FWC 3469 The players Live Events Australia Pty Ltd (LEA), part of the Mediatec Asia Pacific group, contracts with various networks to broadcast…
Read MoreThe need for employers to consider the impact of domestic and family violence on their workforce has been highlighted by the outbreak of COVID-19, with many domestic and family violence support services reporting a spike in cases as a result of lockdowns across the country. A recent case, Workers Compensation Nominal Insurer v Hill [2020] NSWCA 54, has illustrated that domestic and family violence can have a number of unexpected legal consequences for employers, particularly where employees are working flexibly, or both parties in an abusive or violent relationship are employees of the same employer. What happened? The subject of this decision was…
Read MoreIn the middle of a pandemic that has left the nation in economic turmoil and prompted Australia’s first recession since 1991, the Victorian Government has passed the Wage Theft Bill 2020 (Vic) which puts employers around Victoria at risk of criminal prosecution. The Bill creates new criminal offences in Victoria for employers and their officers who “dishonestly” withhold money owed to employees, or fail to keep or falsify records. The Victorian Government pushed ahead with the Bill, despite strong objection from the National Retail Association and others about introducing such legislation at a time when many small businesses are struggling to recover from…
Read MoreOn 11 June 2020 the Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Flexibility Measures) Bill 2020 passed both houses of Federal Parliament. The Bill received Royal Assent on 16 June 2020, and its changes will take effect from 1 July 2020. What is changing? Designed to improve women’s workforce participation, the Bill changes the paid parental leave (PPL) period from a single fixed 18-week period to a fixed 12-week period and a flexible 6-week (30 day) period. The fixed 12-week period will, as under the current scheme, be required to be taken from the commencement of the parental leave period. However, should the employee wish,…
Read MoreThe pandemic hasn’t hindered the Fair Work Ombudsman’s (the FWO) efforts to investigate and prosecute wage non-compliance in the retail and fast food sectors. The FWO has recently secured record penalties against companies that have underpaid their workers and failed to satisfy their recordkeeping obligations. In May, following prosecution by the FWO, the Federal Court issued the operators of three Hero Sushi outlets with record penalties of $891,000. In the same month, the FWO have also secured penalties of $209,000 against two restaurants in Melbourne. Payroll officers fined for fishy employment records In February 2019, the FWO undertook court action against…
Read MoreIt was impossible to miss the headlines following the Full Court of the Federal Court handing down its 273-page judgment in the case WorkPac Pty Ltd v Rossato [2020] FCAFC 84 (Rossato). The case was a direct challenge to an earlier judgment of the Court in WorkPac Pty Ltd v Skene [2018] FCAFC 131 (Skene), which found that another long-standing employee of WorkPac had been incorrectly engaged as a casual, and as such was entitled to accrue paid leave entitlements. Importantly, the case does not mean that casual employees are now entitled to accrue and be paid leave. However, the case redefines what it means to be a casual…
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