News

‘TikTok’ in the Workplace – A Ticking Time Bomb?

Televisions have become flatter, we’ve moved from typewriters to laptops, and now mobile phones have become our everything-in-one device which dominates communication and even some people’s lives. A number of apps and online platforms have emerged to facilitate a purely digital means of interacting, such as Facebook and Instagram, and the hottest one of these at the moment is an app called TikTok. TikTok allows users to create and share short videos, with a particular feature to sync up audio of anyone’s choosing, and lip-sync or dance in time. The app is used widely around the world, and is particularly…

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Start the clock on dismissal claims

Whether it’s a quarrelsome employee, a serial underperformer, or a casualty of automation, the stress of dismissing an employee doesn’t end on their last day of employment. It’s not until 3 weeks (or 21 days) later, when the time limit to file a dismissal claim with the Fair Work Commission expires can an employer experience some relief. However, the story does not always end here. In some very limited and “exceptional” circumstances, the Fair Work Commission may extend this time limit, sometimes months, and allow a claim to proceed. These circumstances are rarely, if ever, within an employer’s control.  …

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Redundancy: A question of intent

The concept of redundancy is a reasonably straightforward one – the employer no longer requires the particular job occupied by an individual to be done by anyone. Case closed. The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) modifies this by adding that a “genuine redundancy” requires two additional elements: that is was unreasonable to redeploy the employee to another role elsewhere in the business; and that any obligation to consult under a modern award or enterprise agreement was met. The overwhelming majority of cases considering whether a dismissal by way of redundancy was unfair focus on the above two points.…

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Legal Beagles | Social media

Our favourite Legal Beagles talk about the trials and travails of social media and workplace law, but will they ever learn to get along? Like, comment and subscribe to our National Retail Association YouTube channel to continue supporting Cal and Al!    

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Legal Beagles | Swearing in the workplace

Cal and Al are back again, this week taking a look at the issue of swearing at work. What are the consequences of letting out an accidental curse word when you stub your toe, compared to letting loose with a stream of expletives at a colleague? Like, comment and subscribe to our National Retail Association YouTube channel to continue supporting Cal and Al!    

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Mental health and discrimination

The last major study into mental health in Australia by the Australian Bureau of Statistics confirmed that 15% of Australians had experienced an affective disorder like depression, while 26.3% have experienced an anxiety disorder. The increasing awareness of mental health amongst the general population also means that workers are more aware than ever of the potential for their employers to discriminate against them on the basis of these conditions. So what is an employer to do when it comes to mitigating a potential claim against them for disability discrimination? We are going to step through some of the concepts that…

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Ombudsman successful in significantly increasing directors’ penalties

In the current enforcement climate, it is valuable to note a recent case in which the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) was successful in obtaining an increase of fines on appeal to almost five times the initial order, for an underpaying company director. In yet another illustration of how the courts are making an example of companies and accessories involved in underpayments, the appeal of this matter has confirmed the position that multiple contraventions should not be grouped together for the purpose of setting penalties. The original matter involved two now-deregistered Safecorp Security Group companies who were held to have breached…

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Defective workplace investigations

Fair Work Commission losing patience over defective workplace investigations By Lucy Harper and Calum Woods, NRA Legal Please note, this decision was quashed by the Full Bench of the Commission on 11 November 2019. The Full Bench found that the Commissioner did not take into account Ms Murphy’s history of domestic violence and associated psychological injuries when deciding whether the dismissal was harsh in the circumstances. In any event, the Full Bench held that there was insufficient evidence of any mental health issues. As such, the outcome was the same and the application was dismissed. The line between employees’ work and personal…

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Drinks after work: from legless to jobless

When getting legless can lead to being jobless: lessons learned from after-work drinks By Thomas Parer and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal Employers and employees are starting to realise that grabbing some casual drinks after work could leave them with bigger consequences than just a hangover. In the recent decision, the Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission upheld reinstatement of an employee who was dismissed for drinking to excess at an after work event and her ensuing conduct. This decision illustrates the pitfalls of managing conduct at after work drinks both for workers and employers, and provides some clear guidance…

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Workplace bullying costs business

Since its introduction in 2013, the Fair Work Commission’s anti-bullying jurisdiction has attracted its fair share of commentary. Of the 700 anti-bullying applications filed last year, a total of 53 proceeded to a formal hearing, and of those only 8 resulted in an order to stop bullying being issued. This means that the success rate of an anti-bullying application was approximately 7 per cent at hearing, or 1 per cent as proportion of total applications. Realistically speaking a great many matters resolve privately before reaching a formal hearing, however compared to other types of applications – for example, unfair dismissal…

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