High Income Threshold and Compensation Cap for Unfair Dismissal Applications – 1 July 2021
High Income Threshold and Compensation Cap for Unfair Dismissal Applications – 1 July 2021 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 […]
The Folau Saga: Contractual Obligations and Freedom of Religion
The Folau Saga: Contractual Obligations and Freedom of Religion Although Israel Folau recently reached a confidential settlement with Rugby Australia, the termination of Folau’s contract reinvigorated debate about religious freedom for employees and their contracts. Intuitively, perhaps, employers should only be able to restrict employees’ conduct within the workplace, whether that be an office or a rugby pitch. However, this […]
Work Safety
Work safety Employers can now subscribe to industry specific COVID-19 Safety Updates at the link here. Employers should direct those responsible to subscribe to the updates for their industry sector. The initiative arises from the National Cabinet decision to develop nationally-consistent, industry-specific work health and safety (WHS) guidance on COVID-19 through Safe Work Australia, […]
Post-employment restraints not enforceable given employer repudiatory conduct
Employment lawyers are often faced with this complex legal question: do post-employment restraints survive termination if an employer breaches or repudiates a contract of employment? This issue was settled in a recent Victorian Supreme Court case that held that post-employment restraints do not survive the termination of an employment contract where an employer breaches or […]
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 […]