Employment Law Blog & News
More changes to employment law on their way: The Protecting Worker Entitlements Act 2023
In addition to last year’s Secure Jobs, Better Pay legislation, the Parliament of Australia has recently passed the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Protecting Worker Entitlements) Act 2023 which makes further changes to the employment law landscape in five key areas....
Further changes to parental leave from 1 July 2023
Following the recent passing of the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Protecting Worker Entitlements) Bill 2023 a number of changes have been made to how parental leave operates, which take effect from 1 July 2023. The changes include an extension of the amount of...
Accessorial liability: HR Manager fined for his part in “resignation” gone wrong
In a recent case before the court, a HR Manager was fined for breaching the general protections provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (‘FW Act’) following a mishandled resignation of an employee. The case is a useful reminded that individuals - such as HR...
Changes to the law: requests for flexible working and extending unpaid parental leave
The next tranche of legislative changes stemming from the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Act 2022 are set to come into effect on 6 June 2023. These next two changes are aimed at strengthening the rights of employees to: request flexible...
New changes to Workplace Gender Equality Reporting
From late 2023, new changes will come into effect for employers with 100+ employees regarding compulsory reporting to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA). Importantly, from early 2024, gender pay gaps for relevant employers will be published. Previously, this...
Does leave count towards ordinary hours when calculating overtime?
A question that many employers struggle with is how periods of leave interact with entitlements to overtime. Most modern awards operate so that employees are entitled to overtime rates when an employee works over a certain number of ordinary hours per week (generally...
Amendments to Professional Employees Award finalised
The Fair Work Commission has made a determination finalising the variations that will be made to the Professional Employees Award which will come into effect on 16 September 2023. As reported in our previous article, the Fair Work Commission recently took a...
The 38 hour work week – What are reasonable additional hours?
A full-time employee working in Australia can expect to be contracted to work 38 hours per week but in reality many professions and industries require employees to work more than this. It is commonplace for employment contracts to state that the employer may require...
SCHADS Award: FWC provides guidance on classification levels
One matter that employers frequently struggle with is determining the appropriate classification levels for employees under modern awards. All awards provide a range of classification levels which will dictate the minimum wage that is payable to the employee - get it...
Changes to paid parental leave from 1 July 2023
On 6 March 2023, the Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Improvements for Families and Gender Equality) Bill 2022 (Cth) was passed by both Houses of Parliament which will make changes to paid parental leave entitlements from 1 July 2023. It is important to note that these...
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