Fair Work Archives | Page 2 of 2

Qantas wins right to not pay sick leave to stood down workers

A photo of a Qantas plane in mid-flight on a clear blue sky.

In something of a speed record for the Australian judicial system, less than three weeks after final submissions were made the Federal Court of Australia yesterday ruled that Qantas workers who have been stood down are not entitled to paid personal (sick) leave or compassionate leave. This case may have significant ramifications for employers nationwide…

Fair Work Commission hands down first COVID-19 related redundancy pay decisions

By Rebecca Goulter

A close of photo of someone counting Australian money while holding a pen in their right hand.

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…

Fair Work Commission proceedings: Head in the sand, or head in the game?

By Rebecca Goulter

An image of a man in a black suit and black leather shoes with his entire hand in the sand as the rest of his body is kneeling on the sand.

Receiving 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…

Ten years of Fair Work: Closing out the decade

By Lindsay Carroll

A photo of a person's fingers holding onto a white card with a black, bold number '10' on it,

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,…

Redundancy: A question of intent

By Rebecca Goulter

A photograph of a person's torso packing away their belongings into a cardboard box that is sitting on a table. Insinuating a person packing away their things from a workplace.

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…

Ombudsman successful in significantly increasing directors’ penalties

By Lindsay Carroll

A photo showing the hands of two people standing opposite each other from one person's point of view. The person standing opposite is handing two one hundred Australian dollar notes with their right hand, and holding a stack of one hundred and fifty Australian dollar notes in their left hand.

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…

Drinks after work: from legless to jobless

By Rebecca Goulter

A photograph of seven different wine/alcohol glasses laid out in a row with an overlay of an orange tinge.

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…

The truth about “reasonable additional hours”

By Rebecca Goulter

a black analogue clock with a white face, black numbers and black hands showing the time of 7:03.

After part-time employment, reasonable additional hours is one the most commonly misunderstood concepts for employers in the retail and quick service industries. In fact, even the question “how many additional hours would be considered reasonable?” betrays a misapprehension of the topic, as the answer is particular to your business and often different for each individual employee.…

Individuals facing tougher penalties for wage non-compliance

By Sophie Goodall

A torso shot of a man in a grey blazer, light blue collared dress shirt and a blue stripy tie holding up a red rectangle card.

With the Corporations Amendment (Strengthening Protections for Employee Entitlements) Act 2018 (Cth) (the Amendment Act) taking effect last month, now is an apt time to reflect on how officers of a company are subject to hefty penalties for failing to pay employee entitlements adequately when they fall due. The Amendment Act demonstrates stronger policy objectives behind the…

Tenth anniversary of the Fair Work Act – Part 1: A change to the union landscape

By Sophie Goodall

A wooden 3d carved number '10' is standing on top of a blurred out light wooden table on the left hand side of the frame.

With the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the FW Act) nearing its tenth anniversary in April, now is an apt time to reflect on how the landscape of industrial law has changed both because of the Act, and because of changes to it over time. We have previously discussed how the FW Act, in this age of…