Whilst the introduction of the JobKeeper scheme is a welcome relief in these unpredictable times, the flurry of legislation and rules being passed has brought with it several complex entitlements and obligations for you to navigate. We raise the more pertinent of these below and offer a word of warning when utilising the new enabling […]
Unpaid Pandemic Leave On 1 April 2020, the full bench of the Fair Work Commission (FWC) made a decision to make additional temporary variations to 103 modern awards. In a statement released yesterday, the full bench outlined the introduction of two weeks’ unpaid “pandemic leave” that will apply to millions of award covered workers until […]
Brace yourself, there’s no doubt we are navigating uncharted waters and unique challenges. As your employment lawyers, it’s our job to take the stress out of it for you! If Covid is affecting your business and workforce, please don’t hesitate to get in touch to discuss whether there’s a solution or workaround – temporary or […]
As part of the four yearly review of modern awards which we briefly summarised In our November edition of Vision in the Workplace, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) has handed down a decision which affects employers paying annualised salaries to employees covered by modern awards. Employers who currently pay annualised salaries to certain award-covered employees […]
Thank you to everyone who attended our Christmas Breakfast Seminar on Friday, 6 December 2019. We trust everyone enjoyed the breakfast and opportunity to mingle and network with other clients. Angharad Owens-Strauss’ presentation offered a simplified refresher on the termination process. Angharad covered the key issues of: redundancy, underperformance and what constitutes serious misconduct. Her […]
Starting in 2020, the Fair Work Commission will extensively vary existing awards as a result of the 4 yearly review of modern awards. The review of the first group of 31 awards has been completed. The varied awards have been issued and will commence operation on 4 February 2020. To find out which awards have […]
The Senate has approved an inquiry into the causes, extent and effects of unlawful non-payment or underpayment of employees’ remuneration by employers and measures to address this issue. The successful Senate vote on 13 November 2019, referred the inquiry to the Economics References Committee. This came as a result of successful push by Labor Senators […]
The national minimum wage will be increased by 3% to $740.80 per week or an hourly rate of $19.49. The decision was handed down by the Fair Work Commission at 11 am this morning, Thursday, 30 May 2019. It means that workers will be better off by $21.60 a week. The new weekly minimum wage […]
Brief Summary Changes to the Enterprise Agreement approval process; Increased flexibility for paid parental leave; Increased regulation of core labour hire industries; Changes to Union right of entry on work sites; Early superannuation access for victims fleeing domestic and family violence; Increased funding for the Australian Building and Construction Commission; Potential introduction of freedom of […]
“Frankly, if one act of inoffensive drunkenness at an after-work function provided valid reason for dismissal, I suspect that the majority of Australian workers may have potentially lost their jobs.” – Commissioner Cambridge, FWC The summary dismissal of an employee for drunken misconduct and alleged sexual propositioning has been deemed unfair by the Fair Work Commission […]