Record-breaking penalties for employers not keeping records
Employers are responsible for making and keeping accurate employee records. Record-breaking fines have been issued to employers for contraventions of employee record-keeping obligations, such as details of overtime hours, penalty rates and loadings. A Caltex franchisee and its owner were fined $80,190 and $16,038 each for falsifying employee records of the wage rates paid […]
Are managers covered by modern awards?
Although the general rule is that employees in management roles are not covered by modern awards, employers must not fall into the trap of assuming that senior employees, such as property managers and CEO’s, are not covered by modern award entitlements like unfair dismissal remedies. What are modern awards? According to Fair Work Ombudsman, modern […]
Blurred Lines: the difference between an independent contractor and an employee
Sometimes the line between an employee and an independent contractor can be blurred. The Uber decision recently made headlines when the Fair Work Commission found that an Uber driver was an independent contractor and not an employee. This will not be the last case to consider whether a person is an employee or a contractor, […]
New whistleblower laws and how to protect public and large proprietary companies
If you have revenue greater than $50m, assets greater than $25m, or more than 100 staff, then you may need a whistleblower policy. Read on for more details. According to the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, a whistleblower is an “insider within an organisation who reports misconduct, or dishonest or illegal activity that has occurred […]
Managing Negative Online Reviews
In NSW, media companies are now “publishers” on Facebook. They were not until last month, when Justice Rothman handed down his decision against News Corp in the Dylan Voller case (now on appeal). The media companies deny that they are publishers on Facebook because they don’t create or control posts on their websites, so they […]
High Income Threshold and Compensation Cap for Unfair Dismissal Applications – 1 July 2019
Employers should be alert to current worker entitlements: Unfair Dismissal High Income Threshold; Compensation Cap for Unfair Dismissal; Redundancy Tax Free Amount; Employment Termination Payments (ETP) Lower Tax Rate Cap; Superannuation Maximum Contribution Base; and Civil Penalties for Breaches of the Fair Work Act. Unfair Dismissal High Income Threshold From 1 July 2019, the High […]
Left out of a Will, want to put it right?
Where’s there’s a Will, there’s sometimes a Way – to upturn it. Karl Lagerfield died last month. According to Le Figaro, his cat Choupette was to inherit a good bit of his estimated $300 million fortune. She’s no retiring feline, this one, she has her own Instagram account. Here is an image of Choupette with […]
NO SATISFACTION FOR QUEENSLAND CLUB OWNERS
The issue of whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor is relevant for many business risks. These include the risk of employee-type claims for unfair dismissal or award wages, of the obligation to remit PAYG withholding tax amounts to the ATO, and of claims by revenue collectors in the states and territories for […]
Going Up: Buying high rise strata just got better, or did it?
The Opal Tower failure in Homebush Bay has heightened fears about high rise residential building defects. Only last year the combustible cladding drama resulted in new laws http://www.cml.com.au/a-cladding-tinderbox-will-your-high-rise-insulate-or-immolate/ and from 22 February 2019 all residential apartment owners must have checked for external combustible cladding and if affected, registered with the NSW Government Now, post- Opal, the […]
Proposed Changes to the NSW Strata Building Bond and Inspections Scheme
The Strata Schemes Management Amendment (Building Defects Scheme) Bill 2018 was assented to in September 2018 and should come into effect later this year once proclaimed. It proposes changes to be made to the strata building bond and inspections scheme, under part 11 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (“the Act”). The amendments mainly affect Developers who […]