Not long after intentionally underpaying employees became a criminal offence on 1 January 2025, additional workplace changes have been announced or made by the federal Labor government to further protect workers and stimulate...more
In this special end of year publication, we take a look back at another tumultuous year in Australian employment law following significant changes. Almost every area of Australian employment law has over the past two years...more
12/6/2024
/ Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Australia ,
Domestic Violence ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Fair Work Act ,
Labor Regulations ,
Paid Leave ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Unpaid Leave ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Theft ,
Workplace Safety
Yet more changes are ahead for employers as key elements of the Federal Labor Government's Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing the Loopholes No 2) Act 2024 (the Act) take effect on 26 August 2024....more
8/23/2024
/ Australia ,
Compliance ,
Employee Rights ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Fair Work Act ,
Fair Work Commission ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Reform ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Wage and Hour
As we find ourselves in the new financial year, a number of the key financial thresholds relating to employees have increased. From 1 July 2024, the national minimum wage has increased by 3.75% to AU$24.10 per hour....more
The Federal Labor Government (Government) has completed its third tranche of workplace relations reform with the recent passage through Federal Parliament of its Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes No. 2) Bill...more
2/26/2024
/ Arbitration ,
Australia ,
Compliance ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Fair Work Act ,
Fair Work Commission ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Reform ,
Minimum Wage ,
Opt-Outs ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Wage and Hour
The Federal Government recently introduced the latest in a series of workplace reforms into Federal Parliament. The Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023 (the Bill), proposes further amendments to the...more
9/18/2023
/ Australia ,
Employee Definition ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Work Act ,
Franchisee ,
Independent Contractors ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Underpayment ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Theft ,
Workplace Safety
Earlier this week, the Federal Government introduced the Fair Work Legislation (Protecting Worker Entitlements) Bill 2023 (Cth) (Bill) into the Parliament of Australia (Parliament). The reforms proposed by the Bill focus on...more
On 4 November 2022 we published a summary of the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill 2022 (Cth) (Bill) as it was introduced into Parliament. You are able to access that summary here. In passing the Bill, Parliament made a...more
The Federal Government recently introduced the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill 2022 (Cth) (Bill) into Parliament, which proposes to amend the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (Act) and the operation of the Fair Work Commission (FWC). ...more
We are pleased to make available this year's edition of the Global Employer Guide. Created to complement our Global Employer Solutions® service, the guide provides a concise, easy to read summary of employment law across...more
3/14/2022
/ Asset Transfer ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Mandates ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Immigration Procedures ,
International Labor Laws ,
State Labor Laws ,
Union Elections ,
Unions
The High Court of Australia has handed down decisions in two cases regarding the distinction between independent contractors and employees. The appeals in Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union v Personnel...more
A Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission (FWC) in CFMMEU & Matthew Howard v Mt Arthur Coal Pty Ltd T/A Mt Arthur Coal [2021] FWCFB 6059 has found that BHP's COVID-19 policy mandating vaccination, while likely lawful, was not...more
On Friday 1 October 2021, an announcement was made by the Premier of Victoria that all Authorised Workers will be required to receive a COVID-19 vaccine to continue working on-site. The Directions which give effect to this...more
The High Court of Australia has handed down a decision in WorkPac's challenge to a finding of a Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia that a coal mineworker, Robert Rossato, was not a casual worker and was entitled to...more
As we reach 1 July 2021, there is a lot happening in the area of employment-related legislation, including award and minimum wage increases, increases to superannuation and the annual change to the high income threshold....more
The Morrison Government's first major workplace reform Bill was introduced into Federal Parliament on 9 December 2020 and has resulted in one significant reform to casual employment laws. The amendments will take effect...more
We are pleased to make available this year's edition of the Global Employer Guide. The guide provides a concise, easy to read summary of employment law across numerous countries.
Our updated release reflects the changes...more
3/3/2021
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Rights ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Employment Contract ,
Foreign Workers ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Over-Time ,
Paid Leave ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Sick Leave ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
The Coronavirus Economic Response Package (JobKeeper Payments) Amendment Bill 2020 was passed by Federal Parliament, which has resulted in further changes to the JobKeeper Payment scheme including changes to the flexibility...more
A 4-1 majority of the High Court of Australia (with Gaegler J dissenting) has overturned the controversial Mondelez decision, confirming what has been the widespread understanding of the operation of personal/carer's leave...more
Should I be standing my employees down or issuing a JobKeeper direction When this all started in March, many employers had never contemplated a stand down and most had not heard of Section 524 of the Fair Work Act....more
WHAT HAPPENED? A Full Bench of the Federal Court has upheld a decision of the Federal Court that Mr. McCourt, a British backpacker engaged by a labour hire company (Personnel) to work as an unskilled labourer for a building...more
*This information is accurate as of 4.00 pm Tuesday 30 June 2020 and is subject to change as this situation evolves. For many of our clients the past three months passed by in a blur as they attempted to get their head around...more
On 20 May 2020 a Full Bench of the Federal Court dismissed WorkPac's bid to overturn the 2018 Skene decision, and determined that another of its 'casual' employees, Mr Rossato, was not a casual employee and was entitled to be...more
* This information set out in this Guide is accurate as at 9.00 am on Monday 27 April 2020 and is subject to change as the situation evolves. Welcome to our employer guide to the Australian Government's JobKeeper scheme....more
*This information is accurate as of 6.00 pm Monday 27 April 2020 and is subject to change as this situation evolves. On 8 April, the Federal Parliament approved a suite of legislation to implement the Coronavirus financial...more