Increasing Minimum Wages: Getting it Right
Around a quarter of the Australian workforce is set to receive a pay rise after the Fair Work Commission raised the national minimum wages by 3.75 percent. This will take the minimum hourly rate under the national minimum wage from $23.23 per hour to $24.10 per hour, amounting to a $33.10 increase to the weekly […]
Tough Penalties For Avoiding Employee Entitlements
There are tough penalties for company directors avoiding employee entitlements. The Corporations Amendment (Strengthening Protections for Employee Entitlements) Act 2019 made amendments to the Corporations Act 2001 which strengthened the Act’s ability to deter and punish company directors and others that seek to avoid their employee entitlement obligations. It also introduced measures to protect such […]
Jail Time Proposed For Employers Who Underpay Workers
A report to the federal government by the Migrant Workers’ Taskforce has recommended that jail time be introduced if employers underpay workers. This would significantly increase the severity of penalties available to courts, with the Fair Work Act currently only including civil penalties for breaches. However, it should be noted that criminal sanctions would only […]
Preparing For Workplace Investigations – What You Need To Know
While preparing for workplace investigations, you should be aware that there may be a process to comply with in relation to your type of business. Milam v University of Melbourne – a workplace investigations case study The recent decision in Milam v University of Melbourne [2019] FCA 171 (19 February 2019) to grant an injunction […]
How Record Keeping Can Help You With Underpayment Claims
New laws tested by the Fair Work Ombudsman mean that good record keeping can help considerably in determining the outcome of underpayment claims. The Protecting Vulnerable Workers’ Act, introduced in 2017, amended the Fair Work Act to increase protections for vulnerable workers. The amendment introduced a ‘reverse onus of proof’ in underpayment claims. Prior to […]
Terminating an employee for excessive sick leave – a case study
In this article we review a recent case in which an employer did not properly terminate an employee who was on extended sick leave. Find our what we can learn from this case, and how we can help you avoid these pitfalls.
Managing A Global Workforce: Australian Labour Laws
Australia is known for strong and protective labour laws which protect Australian workers. Often businesses operating from overseas are unaware of employees’ rights and entitlements in Australia and leave themselves open to underpayment claims, unfair dismissal claims or general protection claims through a lack of understanding of Australian employment laws. Below is an outline of […]
What Are Employers’ Rights With Termination Of Employment?
What does termination mean in employment? Termination of employment is where an employer ends their employee’s position or where an employee ends their own employment. Termination can happen for many reasons and in different ways, namely resigning, their job position being made redundant or being dismissed. There are employment workplace laws put in place regarding […]
The Employers Guide To Handling Underpayment Of Wages
It is the duty of employees to avoid underpayment of wages issues by ensuring that their employees are being paid correctly and that good records are kept regarding employees and payment. Employers also have a duty ensure that they are paying employees ALL their entitlements, leave and overtime. Set off clauses and Individual Flexibility Agreements, […]
Understanding Performance Management In Australia
Often international businesses and employers are not aware of the strict laws for performance management in Australia that protect the workers. This means that international business with Australian offices or Australian staff often get themselves into trouble when performance managing, making redundant or terminating Australian staff. International businesses should be aware of the protections in […]