Background In a recent legal development, a court has declined to order costs against a former sales representative who rejected multiple settlement offers before losing her adverse action case against tools manufacturer Makita (“the Company”). The court found “nothing especially alluring” about the settlement offers, ultimately leading to the dismissal of the respondents’ application […]
A recent notable ruling has underscored the critical importance of prompt action for employers aiming to enforce restraint of trade clauses against former employees. A delay of just three months in initiating legal proceedings proved detrimental, leading to the dismissal of an employer’s application for interim relief. Scyne Advisory Business Services Pty Ltd v Heaney […]
Paid parental leave is set to undergo significant changes starting from July 2024, offering increased support for working families across Australia. The passage of the Paid Parental Leave Amendment (More Support for Working Families) Bill 2023, unamended by the Senate on 18 March 2024, marks a pivotal moment in bolstering parental benefits nationwide. Under the […]
Earlier this month, the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) announced that a record $532 million in unpaid wages and entitlements had been recovered for more than 384,000 workers in 2021-22. Background and Summary Following extensive efforts by the FWO to create an environment that encourages large corporations to prioritise compliance, the sum of recoveries was more […]
On 29 March 2022 Federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced that the Morrison Government’s (the Government) 2022 budget (the Federal Budget) would be extending Paid Parental Leave (PPL) to support new parents. Mr Frydenberg revealed that the government was engaging with key stakeholders in amending the National Employment Standards (NES) to boost redundancy payouts to women […]
Should the Federal Government Criminalise Wage Theft? There is pressure on the Federal Government to outlaw wage theft as an anti-competitive practice following a Senate inquiry on unlawful unemployment. A majority report by the Economics References Committee released last week by Labor, Greens and Independent Senators made 19 recommendations to stop the unlawful underpayment of […]
For over the past 20 years, companies have struggled with the question of who will be an employee and who will be an independent contractor. Previously, the courts would apply a ‘multifactorial test’ which would examine a range of indicia to examine the ‘totality’ of the employment relationship to decide whether the worker is an […]
In January 2022, Safework NSW (“Safework”) has amended its statement of regulatory intent with respect to COVID-19. The noticeable omission from the statement was the explicit protections, that were discussed by the National Cabinet, to protect employers who do not mandate vaccinations. In fact, Australia’s premiers and chief ministers agreed at an August 2021 meeting […]
In an Australian first, Western Australia has formally recognised insecure work in its new Code of Practice on Psychosocial Hazards in the Workplace (“the Code”), which provides practical guidance on how Western Australia workplaces can comply with their duties under the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984. A psychosocial hazard is defined as any social […]
Background In May 2020, five labour hire workers sustained severe burns after a Queensland coal mine exploded due to “spontaneous combustion” of highly explosive methane gas. An investigation into the explosion (“the Investigation”) conducted by the Queensland Coal Mining Board of Inquiry (“BOI”) found that duty holders of the mine had failed to take “timely […]