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WORKPLACE & EMPLOYMENT

We now have a vaccine. But, can we enforce its use?

We now have a vaccine. But, can we enforce its use?

With the UK vaccinating against COVID-19, and this predicted for Australia in early 2021, employers may soon find their employees questioning whether they can be directed to be vaccinated. Crucial to any employment relationship is that employees must comply with any...

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Preparing for Work May Not Be Work

Preparing for Work May Not Be Work

In Seo v Bindaree Food Group Pty Ltd [2020] FWC 6468 the issue of whether preparing for work can be categorised as work arose. Mr Seo’s complaint was that having to remove personal protective equipment and clean himself before he entered the break room meant that he...

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WorkPac v Rossato: Special Leave Application Granted

WorkPac v Rossato: Special Leave Application Granted

On Thursday, 26 November 2020, the High Court of Australia granted labour hire company, WorkPac, special leave to appeal the recent Full Court decision of WorkPac Pty Ltd v Rossato [2020] FCAFC 84 (Rossato). Rossato Prior to the Rossato decision, casual workers had...

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Useful Guidance On When Employees Can Be Stood Down

Useful Guidance On When Employees Can Be Stood Down

As the global pandemic continues to present uncertainty to various industries, Justice Geoffrey Flick’s decision in Qantas Airways Ltd v Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (No 3) [2020] FCA 1428 provides guidance on determining the lawfulness of a...

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Redundancy: Have You Been Turned Over?

Redundancy: Have You Been Turned Over?

You are a cleaner who works for a company, which holds a cleaning contract for a shopping centre. What happens to you when the company loses the cleaning contract? Well unless the company can place you at another site at which it still holds a contract or the new...

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It Pays to Pay

It Pays to Pay

With the passing of the Wage Theft Act 2020 on 16 June 2020, the Victorian Government is criminalising intentional underpayments by employers. The Act also establishes the Wage Inspectorate Victoria to investigate and prosecute offending employers. The Act comes into...

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The Lessons From Workpac

The Lessons From Workpac

On 20 May 2020 the Full Court of the Federal Court gave judgment in WorkPac Pty Ltd v Rossato [2020] FCAFC 84. In contemporary times few decisions on employment conditions have excited as much media attention and commentary as WorkPac did. The reaction to it was...

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Work Not Shirk

Work Not Shirk

Night shift has been the subject of comedy but it was no laughing matter for hospital employees who were sacked after spending work time in a tearoom sometimes with the lights off when they should have been working. The employees in question worked for the Royal...

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Covid-19 and Redundancy

Covid-19 and Redundancy

Under section 120 of the Fair Work Act an employer can seek to reduce the redundancy payment to employees it is terminating. In considering whether to reduce a redundancy payment, Fair Work Commission must be mindful of why redundancy payments exist in the first...

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Asleep at the Ferry Wheel

Asleep at the Ferry Wheel

In Sclater v Transdev Harbour City Ferries Pty Ltd T/A Transdev Harbour City Ferries [2019] FWC 7968, a Ferry Master received a rude awakening when he was caught napping on board a Sydney ferry while supposedly on duty. The Ferry Master’s slumber was exposed when a...

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Australia’s Wage Theft Scandal, Big Names and Bigger Bucks

Australia’s Wage Theft Scandal, Big Names and Bigger Bucks

Wage theft, it’s the hot workplace topic of the moment with many of Australia’s favourite brands and personalities embroiled in the scandal. Woolworths is just the most recent of a long list of Australian employers stepping into the underpayment spotlight, with the...

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Job Kept After Big Night Out

Job Kept After Big Night Out

The case of Puszka v Ryan Wilks [2019] FWC 1132 shows that after hours behaviour can have consequences for employment, although in this case the Fair Work Commission agreed that the employer’s dismissal of the employee was unfair and ordered the employee’s...

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Unpaid Leave and Continuous Service

Unpaid Leave and Continuous Service

As fires raged across parts of Australia this summer employees took leave from their work to fight them in volunteer fire brigades. Unless they had an agreement with their employers this leave would have been unpaid. What does taking unpaid leave mean for the concept...

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I Quit. Now What Do I Do About This Restraint of Trade?

I Quit. Now What Do I Do About This Restraint of Trade?

If you are employed in professional services, you will most likely have a post-employment restraint clause in your employment contract. So, what is it and what does it mean when the employment relationship ends. A restraint of trade is a contractual clause that seeks...

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Redundancy V Unfair Dismissal

Redundancy V Unfair Dismissal

A recent decision of the Fair Work Commission McShane v Port of Newcastle [2019] FWC 177 has restated the principles around redundancy. Mr McShane argued the Port of Newcastle’s decision to make his position redundant was not genuine and that as a result he had been...

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Stress Not Enough to Extend Time

Stress Not Enough to Extend Time

Two recent decisions of the Fair Work Commission have demonstrated the difficulty employees face if they do not lodge their unfair dismissal applications within the 21 day period. In the first instance the employee was two years and two months late (Ellikuttige v...

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Workplace Dismissal – Who Do You Believe?

Workplace Dismissal – Who Do You Believe?

But I’m telling the truth! What happens when the parties to a case have varying accounts of what was said and done? Who is to be believed? In the matter of Ashley Duddington v Mario and Clara Enterprises Pty Ltd and Morgan Trading Pty Ltd, a former restaurant manager...

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Unfair Dismissal – Your Worker Has Been With You for How Long?

Unfair Dismissal – Your Worker Has Been With You for How Long?

How long does an employee have to be employed before they’re eligible to make an unfair dismissal claim?The short answer is “that depends on the size of your business.”  If you’re a small business, the employee will have 12 months before they can claim eligibility. If...

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