In response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the Federal Parliament and Fair Work Commission have made a number of unprecedented, temporary changes to employment law, to help both employers and employees adjust to the present situation. These include giving employers greater flexibility to adjust employees’ work hours, duties and work location.
Employees covered by Modern Awards are now able to access five days of unpaid family and domestic violence leave each year, under amendments the Fair Work Commission has made to most Awards. An employee will be entitled to this leave under certain circumstances.
Victoria has declared a state of emergency in an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). The coronavirus and the public health measures that will be taken to limit its spread presents numerous challenges to businesses. In this article, we provide general information to help employers navigate the next few weeks and months.
Businesses are generally aware that they need to obtain Workers Compensation insurance for their employees. But did you know that you may have to obtain Workers Compensation insurance for your independent contractors? Workers Compensation insurance is required in circumstances where contractors are classified as workers of an employer.
Taking a proactive approach to workplace health and safety is essential for any business. The consequences – both in ethical and legal terms – of businesses failing to provide a safe workplace is simply too high to be ignored. The main legislation that governs a business’s obligation to maintain a safe workplace is the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic) (‘OHS Act’). WorkSafe is the authority responsible for regulating businesses and enforcing the OHS Act.
The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) provides that an employer can only make a deduction from an employee’s pay in certain circumstances: where the deduction is authorised in writing by the employee and is principally for their benefit; where the deduction is authorised by an Enterprise Agreement or Modern Award; and where the deduction is otherwise authorised by law, order of a court or the Fair Work Commission.
As of 1 November 2019, Victoria’s new Labour Hire Licensing Scheme comes into force. If your business hires workers from another business to work for you, you will need to ensure that they are registered under the Labour Hire Licensing Scheme or otherwise risk facing civil penalties in excess of $500,000.00.
A redundancy arises when an employer does not require anyone to complete a particular employee’s job. Often, employees whose employment has been terminated on the basis that their job has been made redundant will be entitled to redundancy pay. We list the key situations where redundancies may arise, and situations where you will be required to pay your employees redundancy pay.
Victoria's new Portable Long Service Leave Benefits scheme for the community services, contract cleaning and security industries commenced on 1 July 2019. If you are an employer having employees in any of these three industries, you will need to participate in the scheme on behalf of your employees. Read here for more information.
The 2019 federal election promises to be the most significant election for employment and industrial relations since 2007, when Labor defeated the Coalition by promising to wind back the Coalition government's controversial WorkChoices legislation.
The Co-Invest Scheme is a scheme that provides employees and contractors in the construction industry in Victoria with portable long service leave. If you are an employer with employees carrying out certain works, there is a reasonable chance that you need to be making Co-Invest contributions on behalf of your employees.
Under the Fair Work Act 2009, some employees have a right to request "flexible working arrangements". This is one of the National Employment Standards included in the Act. Flexible working arrangements can include changes to the employee's hours of work, place of work and job structure (e.g. job sharing).
