Performance and development reviews are a key element in helping your employees grow and succeed in their roles. Regular, well-structured reviews provide the perfect opportunity to guide your team, align their goals with the company’s vision, and foster a culture of feedback. Done correctly, performance reviews are a vital tool in driving both individual and organisational success.
Understanding the ins and outs of modern awards is essential for employers in Australia. These legal documents set the minimum pay rates, work hours, leave entitlements, and other conditions of employment, ensuring fairness in the workplace. If your employees aren’t covered by a registered or enterprise agreement, they are likely covered by a modern award.
As we head into a season packed with public holidays across Australia, it’s a great time for employers to brush up on their responsibilities and ensure employees understand their rights. Whether it’s working, taking the day off, or getting paid correctly, knowing the rules around public holidays helps keep everything running smoothly.
February 2025 marks six months since the August 2024 changes to casual employment laws under the Fair Work Act, which introduced stricter requirements for providing the Casual Employment Information Statement (CEIS).
In our series on managing workplace misconduct, we break down the steps in an investigation to provide practical tips and best practice guidance to help you identify, manage and resolve workplace issues in a fair and reasonable manner that minimises your risk exposure. In this article, we explore the importance of desktop assessments.
Starting in 2025, significant changes to modern awards will impact several industries. These changes will begin in January and April 2025, with key updates reshaping how roles are defined and compensated.
Redundancy can occur when an employer either doesn’t need an employee’s job to be done by anyone, or the employer becomes insolvent or bankrupt.
Well people, we are here. Not sure how we got here, but we did. December 2024.
The Christmas and New Year period can significantly impact business operations for organisations across Australia. Some businesses may become significantly busier to keep up with demand, whilst others may be shutting down. With the festive season approaching there are important employee entitlements that you should now be planning for.
The Festive Season is just around the corner and many businesses are now looking to recruit their seasonal workforce.
Psychosocial health and safety in the workplace refer to the mental and emotional well-being of employees within an organisation. It encompasses creating an environment that fosters positive mental health, minimises harm, and supports employees in times of distress.
Changes to Casual Employment from August 26, 2024
Changes to Independent Contractors from 26th August 2024
New Delegates Rights Terms in Award
Aside from the wage and super increases, as we come into the new financial year there are other changes and to-do tasks that employers need to be aware of.
As we come into the new financial year, there are a number of changes to wages and superannuation payments that employers need to be aware of. Please read the information below carefully.
The Christmas and New Year period can significantly impact business operations for organisations across Australia. Some businesses may become significantly busier to keep up with demand, whilst others may be shutting down.
Work Christmas parties are a chance for employees to let their hair down, celebrate their achievements from the past working year, and it can also be a great chance for your employees to bond. However, although the work Christmas party can be fun, it can also be fraught with dangers.
NSW has become the latest state to introduce new legislation increasing the consequences for employers who fail to abide by the Work Health and Safety Act 2011. This is following the federal Government’s introduction of the ‘Closing Loopholes’ legislation, which had a significant workplace health and safety component that proposed laws such as:
The Federal Government is moving to introduce legislation, the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023, designed to close ‘loopholes’ which are allegedly being exploited by some employers. Of the proposed legislation, the most significant element is the wage theft laws.
Mental health has been a hot topic in our society generally over the past few years, especially after we started to emerge from the pandemic induced lockdowns. These trends in society have been mirrored recently by regulatory bodies across Australia creating various safety regulations, frameworks and codes of practice, meaning that employers now have much more responsibility surrounding mental health risk factors in their workplaces.
The phrase “shutdown” has typically been defined as a period when a business temporarily closes operations. Shutdowns typically occur over Christmas, or some other holiday period, in businesses that operate seasonally, or in the event the business needs to close for maintenance. Generally, employees are made to take either paid or unpaid leave and don’t have much flexibility or choice in this area.
The Albanese Government has introduced legislation that the Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has stated will help with “closing the loopholes that some businesses use to undercut workers’ pay, security and flexibility.”
A recent decision surrounding BHP’s in-house labour hire company confirms that employers must request for employees to work public holidays, instead of unilaterally deciding to roster them on a public holiday.
Changes to the current gender equality reporting under the Workplace Gender Equality Act (WGE Act) have passed Federal Parliament. The Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Closing the Gender Pay Gap) Bill 2023 now will require the WGE Agency (WGEA) to divulge the gender pay gaps of individual companies with 100-plus employees next year, drawing on data already provided by employers.
Similar to what happened in 2022, the Northern Territory will observe Easter Sunday as a Public Holiday in 2023. While the Public Holidays Act 1981 (NT) does not contain Easter Sunday as a permanent public holiday, section 6 of the Act allows the Minister for Employment to gazette additional public holidays. As a result, Easter Sunday 9 April 2023 will now be considered a public holiday observed in the Northern Territory.
Legislation has been passed to boost Paid Parental Leave (PPL) by an additional 2 weeks. This is the first tranche of changes with further amendments expected to be introduced before July next year.
The introduced prohibition on sexual harassment from the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Act 2022 has now come into force. The prohibition applies where the sexual harassment occurred, or is part of a course of conduct that commenced, on or after 6 March 2023.
When an employee has a change in their employing entity, such as when a business is on-sold, it can be difficult to understand what happens to an employee’s existing employment entitlements. This article aims to summarise how these entitlements are treated when a transfer of a business occurs.
For the first time, the Fair Work Ombudsman is taking legal action against a franchisor (in the hospitality and restaurant industry) for failing to ensure compliance by its franchisees. The franchisor is accused of being responsible for the non-compliance of eight franchise-operated outlets and the underpayment of 9 workers, amounting to a total of $32,321.
Australia has 120 Modern Awards, plus many enterprise bargaining agreements in place, to ensure employees are paid fairly for their work. Within these awards and agreements there are many provisions relating to different penalty rates and entitlements employers must provide to their employees. When these provisions aren’t met, employees can be underpaid their correct wages.
Whistleblowing has become an important consideration for not only large businesses, but businesses of all sizes. Whistleblower laws were brought in under the Corporations Act 2001 (and other laws) and created a legal obligation for many larger businesses to have a whistleblower policy. However, the benefits of utilising a whistleblower policy, as a means to receive any concerns or complaints, goes much beyond merely complying with the law.
Industrial manslaughter is a criminal offense that occurs when a person or a company causes the death of an employee or a member of the public due to negligent conduct. In Australia, the issue of industrial manslaughter has been a topic of concern for many years, with a number of high-profile cases highlighting the need for stronger laws to hold employers accountable for workplace deaths.
The explanatory memorandum for the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill 2022 provides the following overview:
The Anti-Discrimination and Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Respect At Work) Bill 2022 has recently passed Federal Parliament. This legislation seeks to implement a further 7 of the 55 recommendations of the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Respect@Work Report.
The first criminal charges relating to wage theft have been laid by the Wage Inspectorate Victoria (WIV), marking a significant point in the fight against employee underpayments.
The Federal Government has introduced paid family and domestic violence (FDV) leave into the Fair Work Act. The Fair Work Amendment (Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave) Act 2022 provides 10 days of paid FDV leave to full-time, part-time and casual employees from 1 February 2023, and from 1 August 2023 for small businesses (defined as a business with less than 15 employees).
The Federal Labor Government has introduced their industrial relations reforms through their Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill which has now been passed and is also known as the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Act 2022. In this legislation there are a number of key changes that businesses will have to adapt to, now that it has been passed. These changes impact various diverse areas, from enterprise bargaining to sexual harassment prevention. Note: This is updated as of 22/02/2023.
Payroll compliance was thrown into the spotlight a number of years ago, when it was uncovered that many well-known Australian brands had underpaid their staff by millions. Since then, there has been a steady flow of organisations from various industries who have been found to have underpaid their employees. The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) responded by increasing their use of detection and enforcement measures and targeting areas that were shown to have higher levels of non-compliance.
As in the Woolworths case, where a salaried employee is mistakenly believed to be an ‘award free’ manager, there is a potential for underpayments. Find out why and what you can do about it.
Commission-only employee gets $28,000 in backpay.
Our Answer – whilst in some situations engaging employees on a commission-only basis can be achieved practically, the main issue is that the employee can never receive less than their legislated minimum entitlements, including entitlements to minimum hourly rates.
Business risks keep climbing as awareness grows of adverse action claims under the Fair Work Act 2009 (FWA).
Recently a company was making an employee redundant due to a restructure of the business. You think this is a straightforward exercise? But for an Award or Agreement covered employee you have to get the formal consultation process right! Unfortunately the company failed to do so and had to go to the trouble of running an unfair dismissal case. In this article we explain the ‘genuine redundancy’ requirements, and the formal steps the employer has to follow to avoid an unfair dismissal case.
With the recent flooding across many parts of Australia, there will be plenty of businesses that are impacted and many of which will be unable to open. So what are the employer’s responsibilities towards their employees?
Irrespective of their size, companies have a wide range of policies and procedures in place that their workers need to be aware of – which is why a staff handbook can prove useful. Comprehensive and easy-to-understand employee handbooks should detail employment policies and procedures, clearly articulating your business’s expectations of employee behaviour and performance in their roles.
There is a common theme in many of the cases we read now, about getting the process right and following often simple steps, to avoid employee relations issues such as unfair dismissal cases. This applies to many situations, but more so with a transfer of employment situation.
We recently held a webinar on the topic of reducing the risk of sexual harassment in the workplace, which can be viewed below.
Disciplinary procedures are a normal, yet important part of any workplace, regardless of size. However, across different businesses, the disciplinary procedures and when they are used can differ a lot. This can be due to a number of factors, including accepted standards of behaviour or the approach of the owner or manager.
On 21 August 2019 the Federal Court of Australia (Mondelez v AMWU [2019] FCAFC 138) delivered a landmark yet controversial judgement (Mondelez v AMWU 2019); in relation to ‘what is and how to calculate personal & carer’s leave (PCL) per the Fair Work Act 2009’.
The Salt Shaker Method was created by a New York restaurateur to demonstrate the key principles of managing employees and keeping their performance up to a certain standard. The method outlines the concept of constant, gentle pressure which ER Strategies General Manager David Price, explains in the video below.
ER Strategies has recently launched its new referral program, designed to benefit many of our awesome clients who have been spreading the word about our services for many years. If you refer someone who signs up for one of our WorkShield packages or otherwise spends a minimum of $2,500, you will receive a $150 voucher as a reward.
As part of the 4 yearly review of modern awards, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) has made a decision concerning the annualised salary arrangements contained in the Restaurant Industry Award 2020 and the Hospitability Industry (General) Award 2020.
ER Strategies has operated since 1999 and in that time, we have had clients approach us with many different situations. These situations have led us to develop a number of strategies through understanding what works and what doesn’t. One such strategy that we have used over and over again is the ‘Champion Method’. Designed by ER Strategies’ Director, the strategy increases the employee’s input in a redundancy process to achieve a mutually beneficial outcome between the employee and employer.
Despite consistent warnings in the form of very public underpayment scandals, large businesses are still being found to be underpaying their employees in a variety of ways.
On 8 August 2022, the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) has announced that a record $532 million in unpaid wages and entitlements was recovered for more than 384,000 workers in 2021-22. The recovered amount is more than three times more than the record 2020-21 amount of $148 million and has benefited five times more workers within Australia.
In our recent article, we explained how the coverage under the Miscellaneous Award has been expanded by the Fair Work Commission (FWC). This has meant that ER Strategies is fielding a lot of questions from clients about this change and how award coverage works.
As part of the finalisation of the very long-running Fair Work Commission 4 Yearly Review of Modern Awards, some additional drafting changes to the Fast Food Industry Award have now been finalised.
The act of whistleblowing involves identifying and calling out misconduct and harm to consumers and the public. Whistleblowers are mainly covered by the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Corporations Act) which provides them legal rights and protections, although other legislation can also protect them.
A payroll audit is a review of what employees were paid and the overall compliance throughout the payroll audit process. Under our audit service, an independent calculation is performed of what employees should have been paid and this is then compared to what they were actually paid to identify any under-, or over-payments. Payroll processes, including the record keeping processes, are also checked, ensuring that the whole system is reviewed for any non-compliance.
So-called “Wage Theft”, and wage underpayments in general, have emerged as an issue in Australia over the last 6 years or so. Put simply, Wage Theft is when an employer underpays an employee either intentionally, or with high levels of negligence or recklessness towards their payroll compliance obligations. The level of ‘intent’ is where Wage Theft differs from underpayments in general. 2019 analysis from PwC estimated that underpayments to employees could be as high as $1.35 billion per year. Whilst only an estimate and not focusing on Wage Theft specifically, it can be assumed that despite only emerging as an issue relatively recently, Wage Theft has been occurring long before underpayments were discovered and publicised.
The Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 (Cth) applies to all employers and employees as well as prospective employees – permanent or casual. The Act includes discrimination on the basis of a ‘criminal record’ where an employee is dismissed from employment or denied certain opportunities due to a criminal record. Further, a job applicant may be discriminated against through being denied the job because of their criminal record.
Most employers now conveniently align the probation period under their contracts of employment to the minimum employment period under the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act).
Each financial year, the Fair Work Ombudsmen (FWO) releases its Compliance and Enforcement Priorities. These are designed to highlight areas where the FWO believes there to be a lack of employment compliance, or potential for underpayments, within a specific industry or sector and where they will be devoting their attention and resources in the coming year.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many employees were forced to work remotely. As a result, the advantages of working from home became evident to many. When restrictions were lifted, employers faced resistance from employees who preferred to continue working from home.
Over the years, we have assisted some clients who have had particularly difficult experiences with employees whom they have dismissed (generally before they spoke to us) or wanted to discipline for some reason. In these cases we are talking about, the employee has set out on a path of destruction against the hapless employer, driven by what appears to be rage or at least a desire to get even at any cost.
Businesses operating in Australia are subject to a number of requirements around record-keeping obligations. Whilst it may not seem like the most important part of running a business, it plays a significant role in employment compliance and the punishments for not being compliant can severely impact a business. Through this guide we’ll specify what details businesses must record and why it is so important for businesses to record them.
Once you’ve identified the correct base rate to pay your employees, you’ll also need to ensure that any penalty rates are applied, and relevant allowances are paid. These are often areas where businesses make mistakes that lead to them underpaying their employees, so it is crucial for businesses to understand what they need to pay their employees and when they need to pay them each rate.
Modern Awards can have the option of paying by an annualised wage arrangement which allows employers to pay a fixed amount per week to satisfy all entitlements prescribed under the Award.
It is a common belief amongst employers in Australia that it is okay to fire new employees without notice. Many employers also believe it is okay to terminate employees in the first few months of employment without reasoning or following the proper procedure. But both of these beliefs are simply untrue.
When people are thrown together for eight hours a day, five days a week, conflict is probably inevitable. After all, without some lower levels of conflict or competition, workplaces would be very boring places indeed, with little or no differing opinions or exchange of ideas. However, if the conflict escalates there are generally no positives to be gained.
The employee must provide evidence to the employer that they were genuinely entitled to sick leave. Generally, a medical certificate is a legal document that should satisfy the employer of an employee’s inability to work. This doesn’t mean that an employer can’t question the validity of the medical certificate.
In line with existing legislation, the Superannuation Guarantee will reach 12 percent on 1 July 2025, going through annual 0.5 percent increases each year on 1 July.
Staff who regularly take sick days without repercussions are likely to continue doing so – this will have a negative impact on other workers who may soon start to follow suit, or feel aggrieved because they are at work doing the right thing. There are several theories on best practice when it comes to dealing with absenteeism, but the key is for employers to show an interest.
Before you take a look at the blog, you might want to check out this webinar we ran on the topic!
Looking for information on the latest annual wage review – just click here.
Do you dread having to sit your employees down to deliver ‘bad news’ for them about their performance? Do you put off having difficult conversations with your employees as a result?
One of the most common errors we’ve identified that leads to underpayments are businesses incorrectly classifying employees, whether that be choosing the wrong award, or employee classification within it. Ensuring that your employees are being paid under the correct award is the first step to being payroll compliant. Failing to be compliant at these first steps means all other payroll compliance measures in place within your business will be redundant.
Employers may need to temporarily close down their businesses for a range of different reasons, this is considered a shut down. Shut downs may occur because of refurbishments or during slow periods of the year, such as Christmas and New Year.
Payroll Compliance seems like a simple issue.
Providing or acquiring references for prospective employees can be a daunting process.
The Privacy Act is just one area of law that impacts on what managers can say or do in regards to giving a reference.
Last week, the Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, announced an Australia-wide first scheme, offering a sick pay guarantee for casual workers in Victoria. Naturally, this has sparked an abundance of questions from employers and employees alike, so the ER Strategies team has broken down the key information below.
The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) – the independent statutory body responsible for enforcing compliance with workplace laws and education – has recently published a resource for franchisors providing guidance on their responsibilities and practical steps that they can implement to comply with the ‘reasonable steps’ requirements.
In March 2021, the Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Act 2021 (Amendment Act) passed both Houses of Federal Parliament, which amended the Fair Work Act 2009 to include reforms to workplace rights and obligations for casual employees.
What are an employer’s rights to require an employee to work on a public holiday? What are the employee’s rights not to work? We consider the requirements under the Fair Work Act.
We recently had a client pose the question “Can we monitor an employee’s emails and what are the privacy concerns?” In researching the answer we came to the conclusion that the law is very confusing, with no one committing absolutely clearly what an employer’s obligations are. However, we offer a practical solution to the issue.
There are a number of factors that determine an employee’s eligibility to make an unfair dismissal claim. Just because an employee may feel as if they’ve been wronged, doesn’t necessarily mean that they are eligible to make an unfair dismissal claim.
Workplace issues pose a number of unique challenges to businesses of all sizes. From day-to-day employee management to specific problems such as absenteeism or situations that result in firing an employee, employers are often required to take a specific action
Most employers will already be aware of the need for flexibility during the crisis and its aftermath in relation to supporting employees during the clean up, difficulties they may face in attending work, providing time off for participation in any emergency services duties, etc. This is of course in the context of their business being able to re-open as quickly as possible and to resume normal business operations.
In 2020 and 2021, businesses were forced into a reactive approach to COVID-19, having to quickly implement work from home processes, putting together COVID-19 safety plans and assessing COVID-19 vaccination strategies and policies in quick succession.
A legislative change in late December 2021 has seen employees in Western Australia officially gain an additional public holiday over the Easter long weekend, commencing this year. Prior to this change, only Good Friday and Easter Monday were gazetted Public Holidays for employees in WA, with Easter Sunday not recognised as a public holiday and treated as a normal day for employers and employees. However, on 16 December 2021, the Industrial Relations Legislation Amendment Bill 2021 was passed by State Parliament, making Easter Sunday a gazetted public holiday permanently into the future.
The issue of meal and rest breaks began with one class action in a single franchise network a few months ago, however now it has evolved to numerous class actions across multiple different franchises. The claims from the workers and their representation are essentially the same, they have been either deliberately denied rest or meal breaks, or the breaks haven’t been enforced as required under the awards or agreements they are covered by.
We often hear our clients say “Help me get this person out of my business!” We like to hear this, as we can provide the correct advice on how to either safely terminate an employee, or manage them to improve their performance so they can provide value to the business.
The FWO’s successful prosecution of the Yogurberry franchise has raised many questions on how franchisors can protect themselves from “accessorial liability” – being an accessory for payroll contraventions of the Fair Work Act.
As with the normal workplace, the employer has a responsibility to take reasonable steps to ensure employee safety and health and to provide an environment free from harassment and discrimination. Inappropriate behaviour at staff functions, which can be attributed to “good cheer” which often accompany these social events, can lead to employers being held liable.
Disgruntled dismissed employees are increasingly lodging General Protections (GP) applications compared to Unfair Dismissal actions, despite unfair dismissals still being more common overall.
Whilst most businesses are winding down for a break over the Christmas period, some employers in Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania are frantically trying to assess whether they will have sufficient staffing levels to survive the holidays.
As COVID-19 restrictions gradually lift across Australia, employees will be returning to work, or in some states, they may have already returned. It is important that employers therefore have a plan in place for their employees to return to work and how they will manage the COVID risk when they are back.
General Protections laws are intended to protect basic workplace rights, including freedom of association and shielding workers from workplace discrimination in accordance with international labour conventions. Under these laws, it is unlawful to take adverse action against a person because of a proscribed reason. Additionally, General Protections laws provide effective relief for persons who have suffered adverse actions, such as being discriminated against, victimised, or have experienced other forms of unfair treatment.
Wage theft has become a prominent issue in Australia, with the FWO recovering over $500 million in underpayments across the previous financial year. This figure has been growing year on year, highlighting that the issue has likely been there for sometime, yet is now coming into the spotlight. As a result, both Queensland and Victoria have brought in legislation.
A recent report published by the Franchise Council of Australia highlights how buying a franchise can be a very good business decision and can outperform the wider SME sector.
The termination of an employment relationship can carry risks for a business, especially if the employee doesn’t agree with the decision. Employer-initiated termination falls into two categories, dismissal of an employee or a genuine redundancy situation. As an example, an employee may be dismissal due to their continued poor performance whilst an employee can be made redundant due to their role no longer being needed within the business.
Conflicts or disagreements within the workplace are common, and often unavoidable. As a result, it is something employers need to have a strategy to come to a resolution without letting the conflict or disagreement develop and impact on the wider workforce and business as a whole.
State governments in Victoria and New South Wales are preparing to move into the next phase of the COVID-19 re-opening roadmap.
State governments in Victoria and New South Wales are moving into the next phase of their COVID-19 re-opening roadmap.
One of the most common workplace issue in Australia is work-related stress. As an employer, how should you be handling this?
While employee drinking and drug use during work hours has obvious implications for workplace safety, productivity, and reputation – consideration also needs to be given to the effects of consumption that occurs away from the workplace and out of work hours.
Last month, we published a reminder that the deadline for assessing casual employees’ eligibility for conversion to permanent employment and making an offer (or ‘non-offer’) was fast approaching. All employers of casual employees (other than ‘small business employers’) were required to complete a number of actions prior to the 27th of September 2021 deadline, including assessing and notifying casual staff about whether they are eligible for casual conversion under the Fair Work Act 2009.
Want more detail than the blog? Take a look at our webinar instead!
One of the smartest ways for small businesses to nip any employee issues in the bud is to ensure that they don’t crop up- and one of the best ways to accomplish this is to make sure that each new member of staff undergoes a thorough and comprehensive induction process.
A number of security companies have recently contacted ER Strategies asking us to assist them in tailoring an enterprise agreement to meet the needs of their business.
Imagine you have a problem employee (perhaps you don’t have to imagine, you might already have one!), who is not up to your performance standards, despite still being on probation. They often come in late, leave early, take sickies and can’t grasp the concept of deadlines. They are frustrating and de-motivating your other employees – and you too.
There are many different reasons as to why a business may be employment non-compliant and/or underpay its employees. Often an important factor is the industry that a business operates in, which can impact on the systems they use or even how complicated their employment obligations can be.
Over the years, we have assisted some clients who have had very difficult experiences with employees whom they have dismissed (generally before they spoke to us) or wanted to discipline for some reason.
We provide an insight into an employee who gave their employer hell – how self-obsessed employees can cost employers huge time and money.
Note: This article has been update to reflect recent changes to the Health Orders put forward by the NSW Government. Please review this new information in line with your current practices to ensure you are complying with the updated government advice. Current as at 31/08/2021.
Organisations regularly conduct audits of their financial position. Similar reviews and analysis can be applied to the Human Resources Function, to compare your organisation against industry best practices, review compliance with relevant laws and regulations and to identify gaps.
Problems can arise when an employer deducts monies from an employee’s wages for reasons other than an employee’s benefit, such as meeting shortfalls in cash and stocks, deducting the costs of a uniform, the costs of a mobile phone, the costs resulting from of a car accident.
Employers must use an employee’s existing super fund, if they have not nominated any other fund via a super choice form. The stated purpose is to reduce super fragmentation for employees, which can lead to multiple sets of fees.
In late March 2021, the Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Act 2021 (Amendment Act) passed both Houses of Federal Parliament, amending the Fair Work Act 2009 to include reforms to workplace rights and obligations for casual employees.
In this article we speak about our top 5 “must know facts” about avoiding unfair dismissal cases. Learn what constitutes a harsh, unjust and unreasonable termination and protect your business.
The Small Business Fair Dismissal Code (the ‘Code’) only applies to small businesses as defined under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), which are those with fewer than 15 employees. In addition, for small businesses, employees are not entitled to claim Unfair Dismissal in the first 12 months of their employment. It is therefore important that small businesses ensure employee dismissals are consistent with the Code to avoid getting involved in an unfair dismissal case which may go against them.
As Australian employment law develops, it becomes harder for employers to keep up with it. Employees are becoming more aware of their workplace rights too. Therefore, employers must ensure that they understand their obligations when it comes to dismissing employees, reducing the risk of an unfair dismissal or other claim, such as a General Protections claim.
Productive and highly-skilled staff are an important part of the smooth running of any organisation, but there are times when certain employees simply do not meet this criteria.
From 1 May 2021, Junior rates for classifications level 4 to level 8 under the General Retail Industry Award 2020 will no longer apply, although junior rates continue to apply to junior employees classified in levels 1 to 3. Junior employees under the Award classified as level 4 and above under the award must now be paid at least the adult rate of pay for their relevant classification.
Businesses use a number of different strategies to ensure they meet targets and stick to deadlines, including the use of KPIs – Key Performance Indicators.
Setting out a detailed employment policy is an important proactive step you can take to prevent employee issues from arising in the workplace.
Long term labour plans make way for current and immediate needs, and convenient rather than strategic decisions. Here are some tips to recruiting the Right people.
Coined in the mid-‘90s by psychologist, Cary Cooper (Paul D. Hooper, Presenteeism, white paper CIDM Corp, 2012), presenteeism is not only more difficult to identify and manage than absenteeism, there is some suggestion that its cost to the economy is far more significant.
Problem employees can arise in your workplace. Whether they are taking long repeated lunches, treating colleagues poorly, or just acting in an unprofessional way, their actions can impact on the overall workplace so it is important to curb that behaviour. Whatever your situation, the following formula works to address all those sticky issues where you expect resistance, in the most professional and constructive way possible.
Carrying out staff inductions is a crucial step in onboarding new employees and integrating them into the workplace. Not only do they provide training and give the employee an understanding of their role and duties, but is also a good opportunity for employees to familiarise themselves with company culture, policies, and procedures. The induction process should ideally start as soon as a recruit accepts a job offer. So why else should you use an onboarding procedure for your new employees?
Redundancy payouts can be a large cost to a business that may already be struggling, but there are ways to ease this threat.
In late March, the Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Act 2021 (Amendment Act) passed both Houses of Federal Parliament, which amended the Fair Work Act 2009 to include reforms to workplace rights and obligations for casual employees. The legislation has received Royal Assent and is therefore now in operation, with some transitional arrangements.
At some stage, almost all businesses will be faced with a dispute or conflict between employees, or another situation that must be resolved. In some of these situations, employers must investigate in order to make a clear decision on how to resolve the issue. This is an important part of the employer’s role, however, it can also be an area where risk can arise. Here are some important considerations employers should be aware of when doing a workplace investigation.
In our article about a bullying case leading to a record $5.2 million award of damages, we highlighted how employees are now increasingly making general protections claims. However, general protections claims can even be made by people who aren’t even employed in your business. Prospective employees or contractors are protected from being adversely affected due to a variety of attributes including but not excluded to, race, religion and gender. These are called protected attributes.
One of the most common workplace issues in Australia is work-related stress and stress leave. As an employer, how should you be handling this?
Individuals suffering from Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), more commonly known as ‘narcissists’, can wreak absolute havoc on your business. Others who are more borderline as to whether they have a personality disorder, can also be difficult to handle.
Due to requests from some of our franchise clients, we launched our external Payroll Audit Service to review Payroll and Award/Enterprise Agreement compliance at the franchisee outlet level.
We are continually relying on our mobile phones and other mobile devices for everything from checking the weather to keeping in contact with each other on social media. With such a high reliance on mobile phones, chances are your business has had issues with employees using their phones while they should be working.
Due to huge media attention over the past 1-2 years, you will be aware of the variety of large-scale employers underpaying their staff. Woolworths, Coles, Bunnings, respected universities, and IBM have all been guilty of it and faced the consequences.
On 22 October the Federal Circuit Court found that Barry Café in Northcote, Victoria, “deliberately contravened workplace laws and exploited staff”. The Court found the café exploited vulnerable workers by refusing to offer shifts of work to anyone that complained.
Having difficult members of staff is a relatively common problem that organisations face, but it is an essential part of employee management for it to be dealt with.
In the event of an employee leaving a company, bosses need to make sure they make an accurate calculation of final pay.
During the cooler months, it is not surprising that the number of employees who call in sick seems to go up.
Whilst many businesses are under pressure because of disruptions to their markets caused by COVID, there has never been a greater need for good practical advice, which also checks off all the technical issues employers face whilst navigating Australia’s industrial relations and employment law system, as well as the JobKeeper changes associated with it.
From 1 July 2020, following a decision by the Fair Work Commission, the coverage of the Miscellaneous Award 2020 has been significantly extended to now capture many employees who were previously assumed to be award-free.
Get the latest HR/ER/IR Updates and news that could affect your business straight into your inbox.
