The plight of trolley collectors has been a focus of the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) for many years, and the Australian Industrial Relations Commission before that.

In 2011, the FWO shifted its focus to the end users of the trolley collecting supply chain – big supermarkets. The FWO raised its supply chain concerns with Coles noting that Coles’…

The internet and email are essential tools for most businesses. Email makes correspondence and transactions simple and efficient, but it is also easy to send the wrong email to the wrong recipient!

Employer provided IT, internet and email services are prone to abuse and misuse by employees, sometimes deliberately and other times not. To guard against…

In our last instalment of our three part blog series we will focus on the most extreme form of enforcement under the Model Work Health and Safety Act, prosecutions.  

Prosecutions can only be brought by certain parties as set out under section 230 of the Model Work Health and Safety Act (Model WHS Act).  If the Court finds that obligations…

In part one of our three part series we discussed improvement and prohibition notices under the Model Work Health and Safety Act.  In this second part we will focus on enforceable (or WHS) undertakings. 

An enforceable undertaking is an agreement between an organisation and…

The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) gives  the Fair Work Commission (the Commission) the power to make orders to stop bullying where it is satisfied pursuant to section 789FF that:

1. A worker has been bullied at work by an individual or group of individuals; and…

In part one and part two of our Employment Essentials Series we discussed procedural aspects of termination and the need for substantive fairness.  In this third instalment we will discuss the various outcomes and ramifications for employers if they fail to settle an unfair dismissal claim…

Workplace gift giving can be a blessing and a curse for employers. On the one hand it brings out the generous, team-oriented qualities in employees but equally, it can cause animosity between employees not to mention embarrassment and even anger.

The dangers of workplace gift giving and money collection were demonstrated recently when employees of…

A Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) could have in place measures to control risks in the workplace, including amongst other things, implementation of  safe work method statements (SWMS), regularly conducting risk assessments and holding regular training in order to prevent and manage risks to work health and safety . …

When considering whether a dismissal is unfair, the Fair Work Commission (the FWC) will have regard to two types of fairness – procedural fairness and substantive fairness.

Procedural fairness is about natural justice and the procedure followed by an employer when terminating an employee’s employment. We discussed procedural fairness in our…

Recenty, MAdE Establishment Group (the Group) and its celebrity chef director and founder went public with a mea culpa that it underpaid the wages of at least 162 employees across its Melbourne restaurants.

The Group issued the public apology to employees for the underpayments which relate to the calculation of overtime rates and the incorrect…