Persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBUs) have a range of positive duties and obligations to ensure the health and safety of workers under the model work health and safety laws in Australia. These duties and obligations can at times be forgotten, especially when PCBUs are engaged in complex work arrangements that involve a number of duty holders.

In such cases, PCBUs must be aware of the duties they bear, such as the consultation obligation which requires a…

Australia has long had in place state and federal anti-discrimination legislation which recognises sexual harassment as a form of sex discrimination and makes sexual harassment in the workplace unlawful. Under sex discrimination legislation, such as the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth), employers are obligated to ensure that workplaces are free from sexual harassment and can be held vicariously liable for the unlawful acts of their employees.

New guidance material has been…

We recently discussed the Government’s IR proposed changes in the article Loosening The BOOT Straps And 9 Other Industrial Relations Changes. There has finally been some movement in this regard with discussions with the…

A redundancy should never be a quick decision; you need to start preparing weeks, if not months in advance to do it right and provide the support your redundant employees will need for a smooth transition.

To help you prepare, follow this 7-step guide to planning redundancy and be sure to seek the appropriate professional advice throughout the process.

1. Assess your reasons for…

Situation

St John Ambulance WA have been using Assessment Centres for a number of years as part of the selection process for their Student Ambulance Officers (SAOs). This highly competitive process sees over 1000 applicants compete each year for a place in St John’s and Curtin’s program to become future paramedics. Previously, these Assessment…

A number of Employers now must consider the COVID-19 vaccination.  In a previous article “Can Australian Employers force an Employee to get…

Many people may wonder why are benefits important. Employees are paid to work, right? Even though that's true, finding a specialist in each area of work is quite difficult. The constant fluctuation of employees may cost your company millions! So, if you want to prevent that from…

Employers often see the disciplinary process as an opportunity to raise every single indiscretion by an employee – even though the issues occurred in the past or are minor in nature when compared to other misconduct. However, this approach can weaken the employer’s position, rather than strengthen the decision to dismiss.

In Lupson v Australian Pacific Airports (Melbourne) Pty Ltd [2020] FWC 6721, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) was critical of an employer’s…

It is not uncommon for employees to be injured while performing work. What should an employer do if an accident occurs? What documents should be drawn up? What payments are due to the victims? You will find answers to these and other questions in the article. An industrial accident…

The phenomenon of employees taking on “side hustle” projects or secondary projects is nothing necessarily new.  The increase in secondary employment and multiple/diversified income streams has also been given a boost with the onset of COVID-19.

A number of Employers have taken to terminating the employment of employees due to secondary…

Work health and safety legislation in Australia places significant duties and obligations on persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) to ensure the health and safety of workers. These duties and obligations, and the penalties for non-compliance, are intended to reflect the serious harm that could be suffered by workers at work and to act as deterrents to employer staking shortcuts when it comes to health and safety.

PCBUs must have the correct processes and…

In the past, workplaces were heavily hierarchical and it was expected and accepted that managers were direct and overt in giving instructions and critical feedback.

As we have moved to 'flatter' structures and a more empathetic and collaborative leadership style managers are now very hesitant to have these discussions. 

'In the past' workplace roles were very clearly defined. A manager was respected because they were a manager. An employee followed their manager's instructions…

In 2020, the pandemic has forced companies to work remotely if they wanted to stay afloat. Whether or not those companies were prepared for such an abrupt shift, didn’t really matter. Their teams quickly became virtual ones while the managers had to figure out things along the way.…

One of the reasons many organisations continue to stick with face-to-face workshops is that they feel the effort to transfer workshops into online training is too hard.

Until recently, this was probably correct. If you had to use complex eLearning Authoring tools, like Captivate or Storyline, to create online training, that was a long…

Why creating an Outstanding Employee Onboarding Experience matters.

You might be surprised to learn that …

Employers have long known that they are obliged to try to find new employment opportunities for employees who are faced with the redundancy of their current role.  This might include redeployment within the employer or its related companies, or finding employment with a third party.

Despite employers’ best efforts to preserve employment, from time-to-time disputes arise when employees would rather have redundancy pay than a new role – or where the new role is not an adequate…

The answer is probably yes.…

The post pandemic landscape has meant a number of challenges for Employers and HR.  As an Employment Lawyer human resources department ask for assistance on a range of matters.

Here are some quick wins for HR for 2021.

Tip 1 – Performance Management Training

Some companies have seen a spike in productivity and others have seen productivity limited.  It is important to understand the unique problems that have…