Changes to strata law to assist the strata industry deal with COVID 19
Are changes to the Strata Schemes Management Act, and associated regulations, coming fast enough? Probably not…
How are casual employment contracts different?
A casual employment contract is fundamentally different to either a permanent or fixed term arrangement. Very few employers, or employees, have taken the time to fully understand the consequences of casual employment. What does it mean to be a casual employee? Casual...
Will you end up paying double for casual employees?
The ‘Faustian bargain’ between employers who have not wanted to commit to their workforce, and employees who have preferred high wages and flexibility over permanent employment, is coming to an end.
Employers taking hard-line approach
A clear trend we are witnessing during this COVID 19 period is employers becoming more commercially savvy and adopting a hardline approach to limiting expenditures in all facets of their businesses. This is having a flow-on effect among our employee clients, who are...
Answering your strata title questions
If you’re looking at buying into a strata title building, then read this first. With a few simple steps you will be able to avoid some costly and common mistakes.
How does redundancy work for a small business work?
If you are a small business owner and need to restructure your workforce, start here.
Do you really want to keep things ‘casual’?
Casual employees are expensive. To start with they will cost you 25% more per hour. But they can end up costing you a lot more than that if they are really ‘permanent part time’ employees.
Is your executive job at risk during the COVID-19 recovery?
Over the past month we have had a significant number of executives contact us about being stood down, and their concerns about redundancy, reduction in pay of between 15% to 30%, and possible termination of their employment. This concern appears to be particularly...
Fire safety and your building – choosing the right fire safety practitioner for your strata title or company title building
Ensuring the fire safety of buildings is now a prime focus for owners of strata title and company title buildings. Under new rules, owners of buildings must ensure that they conduct proper due diligence and check that they have engaged an accredited fire safety practitioner.
Emergency changes to the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) in light of COVID-19
Significant changes have been passed in Parliament to be incorporated into the Fair Work Act (Cth) in direct response to the COVID 19 crisis. NOTE: These significant changes will only affect employers who's business is entitled to claim the JobKeeper subsidy....
Have you been made redundant during COVID-19?
A lot of people are being made redundant because of a downturn in business arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. But ‘redundancy’ is a special type of termination, and it gives rise to special rights for the employee. If you have been made redundant, then make sure you have been treated appropriately.
COVID-19: Stood down, terminated, made redundant: what’s the difference?
Words like ‘stood down’, ‘terminated’, ‘retrenched’ and ‘redundant’ are being thrown around like confetti during this difficult time. But what do each of these words mean and how does it affect you?
Annualised Wage Arrangements – are you being underpaid?
If you are a full-time employee who is paid an ‘annualised wage’ (i.e. a fixed dollar amount per year, rather than hourly), then you need to check the changes that came in from 1 March 2020 to make sure you are not being underpaid.
How can you effectively manage ‘short term leasing’ in strata buildings?
Apartments are often used by lot owners as an investment property and can be a good source of additional income. Australia has seen a boom in its short term rental industry, and strata buildings have been a popular hub for this activity. This trend has been given a...
Housekeeping for your Company Title Building during the COVID-19 crisis – The need for House Rules
Government measures mean that more people will be spending more time in your company title building. Not all of them will be sharing the same objectives – some will be ‘off work’ and looking to unwind. Some will be seeking a quiet place to ‘working remotely’, while others will see this as a great time for a reno. You need a strong set of House Rules to balance all of these objectives and keep the peace.