The Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission has found that an employee, Donald Pettifer (“Pettifer”), of a labour hire company, MODEC Management Services Pty Ltd (“MODEC”), no longer had the capacity to perform his position after MODEC complied with the host employer, BHP Billiton Petroleum Inc’s (“BHP”) direction to end Pettifer’s placement.

The Facts in Brief

In 2009, Pettifer…

In pursuit of a work-life balance, we are increasingly seeing employers agree to employees performing all or part of their duties from home.  If you are one such employer, there are a number of things you need to take into consideration when offering or agreeing to allow an employee to work from home.

CONTRACTUAL CONSIDERATIONS

Arrangements to work from home should be recorded in an agreement signed by the parties.  Consideration will need to be given as to whether this…

On 17 June 2016, Judge Jarrett of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, delivered his decision of Fair Work Ombudsman v Step Ahead Security Services Pty Ltd & Anor [2016] FCCA 1482, which is one of very few cases to consider the application of section 550 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (“the FW Act”) and whether a person who is involved in a contravention of the FW Act is liable to compensate the victim of the contravention. 

This decision of Judge Jarrett is of…

Who needs to read this Update?

Well everyone, we all have work health and safety obligations after all, but this update is particularly important for any employers that have a duty in relation to the same matter as another duty holder under the Model Work Health and Safety legislation (“WHS legislation”).

What sections of the WHS legislation are we talking about?

Section 16(1) provides that more than one person can concurrently have the same…