A question asked many times by clients is when a scenario involving serious misconduct is put to us – can we now terminate their (the employee’s) employment?  Our response (with some adjustment) is usually – “of course you can – you are the Employer, however the key question really is – what would happen if you had to explain your actions to a Judge…

Even though lockdown conditions are beginning to ease, it’s clear that many organisations won’t be returning to ‘business as usual’ any time soon and will be continuing with some aspects of remote work. There are many upsides to this but one area that organisations need to focus on is employee relations, and ensuring that they continue to meet their obligation to provide a safe workplace.

I discussed this with Martin Reid, Managing Principal, Workplace Relations at…

Scott Morrison and the Federal Government have announced a clear initiative to (in principle) accept a significant amount of the 55 recommendations around sexual harassment. There are some overarching themes with the changes and what has been pushed is a more clear path and more distinctive grounds for employees to file sexual harassment complaints,…

The District Court of NSW has made a decision on a case involving a termination of employment mere days before a significant redundancy payment was owed to a long standing employee (20 years). Ultimately the Court found in favour of the employee awarding almost $300,000.00 in damages.

The case of…

Would you consider yourself a responsible CEO, Executive or Board Member? Then you will be across this latest piece of research AND you won’t ignore it.

Research[1] carried out by the federal Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) based on a six year study of Australian companies found that increasing the number of women in key leadership roles by as little as 10% increased an ASX200 company’s  market value by an average of $105 million. Appointing a female CEO is…

The pandemic has led to a number of changes in the workplace – words such as workplace flexibility, working from home, remote working, Zoom, Teams, virtual meeting are now common lexicon of the modern workplace.  A number of…

There are a number of well documented workplace problems continuing to persist as we…

The effectiveness of a marketing method isn’t so easy to make an estimate of. You see, a method may be effective but also incredibly expensive, which would make it not cost-effective enough. Then again, there are some marketing methods that give you incredible effect but take a lot of time and effort. For instance, content marketing gives an incredible ROI and is quite cost-effective but takes a lot of effort. According to some estimates, in 2020 it took 3…

Following on from my last article - 'Why do managers get complaints?', do you know the difference between workplace bullying and reasonable management action.



This article goes into more detail about what the Fair Work Act says in s789FD(2) - ‘Behaviour will not be considered bullying if it is reasonable management action carried out in a reasonable manner.’ and how I as an investigator address this question when conducting investigations against…

Workplace complaints against managers – why do managers get complaints?

The easy answers are:

1. What they do!

2. What they don’t do!

What managers do

As a workplace investigator I have conducted a large number investigations into complaints about managers and what I have found is that many complaints come as a result of the manager:

* Managing and directing an employee

* Placing an employee on some form of performance improvement…

Successful maintenance technicians have a sought-after combination of knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) including a wide range of trade-related skills and knowledge, and a depth of experience to troubleshoot problems and complete regular maintenance and repairs. They also need a clear focus on safety, and the ability to work effectively across the organization, interacting with the rest of the workforce. 

However, there is critical shortage of qualified…

Access to confidential information is part and parcel of work for many employees especially those working in finance, professional services and technology based businesses.  The ANZ Bank recently dealt with a case where an employee filed an unfair dismissal claim after she was dismissed for:

• Undertaking an unauthorised celebrity search on…

Medical certificates and reports from medical practitioners play an important role in the employment relationship.

Employers rely on the opinions of medical practitioners for assurance that employees are medically fit for their role and they are not being required to perform tasks that might put their health and safety at risk.

Such documents are also used to provide legitimate evidence that an employee who takes personal (sick) leave is, in fact, not fit for work because of an…

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented effect on Australian businesses.Employers have had to, with little notice, adapt to these changing circumstances to try and minimise the adverse impact of lockdowns on the business and its employees.

During the pandemic, many employers have been forced to implement redundancies as a means of trying to survive. Reduced employment opportunities have also resulted in greater scrutiny being placed on employers to ensure that the…

A dismissed employee can lodge an unfair dismissal claim alleging that their dismissal was “harsh, unjust or unreasonable”. Employees will often claim that the dismissal was all three: harsh, unjust and unreasonable. However,these concepts are distinct and will be considered separately when determining whether a dismissal was unfair.

A recent decision Hamlin v City of Sydney Council[2021] NSWIRComm 1010, the NSW Industrial Relations Commission…

A competent approach to the design of the office and its space can significantly help in working with staff. The interior of the office is rarely approached meaningfully, often referring to it as a room for work. And without using design as a means of attracting, motivating,…

To keep your organisation operating on a high level, you need to retain those talents. However, if you don’t pay attention to your employees, fluctuation will take its toll. Don’t lose your performers! Indulge them in the team building activities that will help strengthen the bond…

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Candidate attraction and selection is critical to the success of any business, and SMEs are no different.

It’s often hard to just get your head around the entire recruitment process let alone seeing it all through. After all, who really has time to write a job description or capabilities statement for every role in the business? You’re (probably) not an expert copy writer, so how do you know if the ad you post online…

Workplace investigations are almost always a difficult undertaking for Companies.

One aspect on which all managers, senior business leaders and HR usually agree, is the importance of getting the procedural aspects of the investigation right.   Getting it wrong will not only potentially increase the risk in terms of the Employer’s ability to defend any resulting disciplinary action that the Company believed was ‘fair, reasonable and just’, it also has the…

Discrimination in the workplace is unlawful under a number of Australian laws, including state and federal anti-discrimination legislation (such as the Age Discrimination Act 2004 (Cth)) as well as the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act).

One of the attributes that is protected by such legislation is a person’s age – meaning that it is unlawful for a person, including an employer or prospective employer, to engage  in any action that would disadvantage…