Signing Formal Documents Remotely – New Rules
The COVID-19 Public Health Orders have seen many solicitors and Justices of the Peace working remotely. In response, the NSW Government has implemented the Electronic Transactions Amendment (COVID-19 Witnessing of Documents) Regulation 2020 (NSW) which came into effect on 22 April 2020 and is expected to terminate on 22 October 2020. The Regulation can be […]
Commercial Landlords COVID-19 Land Tax Concession and Deferral
The NSW Government has unveiled a $440 million land tax package to assist landlords and tenants as they deal with a downturn as a result of virus-related restrictions. If you are a Landlord with commercial premises read on 25% Land Tax Concession Landlords will be able to apply for a concession of up to 25 […]
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 […]
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 […]