Employment Law Blog & News
Changes to fixed-term contracts from 6 December 2023
What are fixed term contracts? As the name suggests a fixed term contract is an employment contract that applies for a specified period of time and comes to an end automatically at the end of that period. This period of time is typically defined in the...
Deed of release protects an employer from million dollar litigation
In this week’s blog we look at deeds of releases with reference to a recent Federal Court Case in which a former employee had his litigation thrown out of court after it was found that the deed of release he had signed acted as a bar from bringing any proceedings....
Vicarious liability and the employer’s positive duty to eliminate sexual harassment
In this week’s blog we look at sexual harassment under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth)(Sex Discrimination Act) with reference to a recent Federal Court Case in which a company was found to be vicariously liable when its sole director sexually harrassed an...
Can an employer change an employee from permanent to casual?
In this week’s article we look at the question of whether you can change the status of an employee’s employment such as from full-time or part-time to casual. This was the subject of a recent decision of the Fair Work Commission which we discuss further below. Why...
Case updates: When is a casual employee dismissed?
In this week’s article we take a look at two recent employment law cases that were heard concurrently by the Fair Work Commission. The central issue in these cases was whether the two employees were “dismissed” under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (‘Fair Work Act’) and...
Case updates: Entitlement to redundancy pay and abandonment of employment
Case Updates: In this week’s article we take a look at two recent employment law cases, one which deals with whether or not an Executive Producer at Network 10 was covered by the Broadcasting, Recorded Entertainment and Cinemas Award 2010 and was therefore entitled to...
Case updates: Employees vs contractors and reducing redundancy pay
Case Updates: In this article we take a look at two recent employment law cases, one which deals with whether an individual was engaged as an independent contractor or an employee and one where an Employer has sought to reduce redundancy pay owing to five former...
Case updates: Vicarious liability and implied approval of overtime
In this article we take a look at two recent employment law cases, one which deals with “vicarious liability” (when an employer is liable for the actions of its employees) and one which deals with whether an employer should be taken to have implicitly authorised the...
Casual employee or independent contractor? FWC case provides guidance
In the recent case of Salim v AFA Sheetmetal Components Pty Ltd [2023] FWC 1834 before the Fair Work Commission (FWC), it was found that an unskilled labourer was in reality a casual employee rather than an independent contractor, despite the fact that he had an ABN,...
Paid family and domestic violence leave commences on 1 August for small businesses
As reported in our previous article, the requirement to provide employees with 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave starts on 1 August 2023 for small businesses (employers with less than 15 employees). It's been in place for employers with 15 or more...
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