Brace yourself – the minimum wage order is coming.

That’s right, its wage update time again! The end of the financial year is swiftly approaching and it brings with it an obligation for employers to review their rates of pay and ensure that they are compliant.

Today we are expecting the Fair Work Commission to deliver its 2015 minimum wage order. The order will include a determination about whether an increase will be applied to the rates of pay in modern awards and to the federal minimum wage.  For businesses across the country this will mean updating payroll systems and making sure rates of pay are correct.  Any changes announced by the FWC are expected to take effect from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2015, so employers should start getting ready now. 

Let’s talk about sex(ual harassment)

It’s a big problem and it’s widely under-reported by victims. It’s time to talk about sexual harassment.

In their Annual Report for 2012-2013, the Australian Human Rights Commission reported that 21% of complaints received under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) were complaints of sexual harassment. In the same year, a telephone survey conducted by the Commission recorded that 1 in 5 people had been sexually harassed at work. 

The notorious PPLS ‘double dipping’ explained

Double dipping on paid parental leave - what a furore its caused over the last week.

In its budget, released last Tuesday evening, the Government announced that it intends to change the way paid parental leave works for employees across Australia. The changes will prevent employees accepting parental leave payments from both their employer and the Government at the same time (known as ‘double-dipping’).

“Permanent casuals” fighting back: Are we entering a period of “de-casualisation”

I often laugh about the term “permanent casual” when I hear it thrown around like it has some legal meaning.  Obviously, the legal concepts of permanent employment and casual employment are at opposite ends of the spectrum in a strict legal sense.  However, after years of reading about the “casualisation” of the Australian workforce, it seems the casual workers are hitting back. 

This week, on “World Day for Decent Work” (who knew?) the ACTU announced that it would be seeking an amendment to all Modern Awards as part of the 4 yearly review which is presently underway.  The amendment will seek to allow casual employees the right to become permanent. 

Massive sighs of relief from employers as High Court rejects implied term of trust and confidence

Employers and employment lawyers all around the country were on the edge of their seats yesterday, eagerly awaiting the High Court's decision in relation to the existence of an implied term of trust and confidence in Australian employment contracts.  Contrary to the majority Full Federal Court decision (please refer to our earlier blog "Implied Term of Trust and Confidence: Where to From Here"), the High Court rejected the proposition that all Australian employment contracts contain an implied term that the parties “will not, without reasonable cause, conduct itself in a manner likely to destroy or seriously damage the relationship of confidence and trust between employer and employee”(Commonwealth Bank of Australia v Barker [2014] HCA 32). I'm pretty sure that the High Court Judges in Canberra heard the big sighs of relief from our clients and employers across the country! 

However, the High Court did leave open questions regarding whether there is a general obligation to act in good faith in the performance of contracts (including employment contracts). So...the law, as always, still has some questions to answer. 

 

 

Restructuring: How to deliver bad news that doesn’t bite

With Coles recently announcing 400 odd job losses at its Head Office and unemployment figures on the rise, we thought it was time to highlight some of the legal and HR issues arising from restructures.

A number of different commercial scenarios can lead to a restructure.  You might be selling part of your business, moving people between group entities or you might just need to streamline things in your company or within a specific team.  Whilst each set of circumstances will always be different, there are some common considerations.