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Some employers may find themselves in the situation where an employee fails to show up to work for a period of time with no notice and no communication about their absence – never to be heard from again.

How the employer should respond? Particularly where it appears that the employee has abandoned their employment and has brought the employment relationship to an end.

In the recent decision in Thompson v Zadlea Pty Ltd T/A Atlas Steel [2019] FWC 1687, the Fair Work…

In response to an application to stop bullying, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) has the power to make any orders it thinks necessary to prevent workplace bullying from continuing. The FWC’s exercise of this discretionary power has resulted in some interesting orders over the years, including requiring employees to greet each other in the mornings or directing that an employee stop exercising at work in the vicinity of another employee.

In a more recent decision, the…

The NSW District Court has convicted and fined a KFC franchisee after a young worker sustained third degree burns when his foot slipped into hot oil while he was cleaning the hoods of an overhead ventilation system.  

The worker, who was 20 years old at the time of the incident, was employed as a Food Service Team Member at a KFC restaurant in North Coffs Harbour, NSW. He was tasked by his supervisor (who was just 19 years old) with cleaning cooking equipment in the kitchen, including…

When dealing with litigated matters, we cannot stress enough the importance of having evidence and witnesses that are credible and reliable to support a party’s position in the proceedings.

A recent decision of the Fair Work Commission (FWC) has shown how providing false and misleading evidence can not only be detrimental to the case, but can also have very serious personal consequences for those who…

According to the Fair Work Commission’s (FWC’s) most recent annual report, unfair dismissal applications are by far the most common type of application lodged with the FWC. In the 2017-2018 reporting period, more than 13,000 unfair dismissal applications were lodged by employees across Australia.

Clearly, unfair dismissal continues to be one of the main areas of dispute between employers and…

A suspension is a reasonable and lawful direction from an employer where, for the period of suspension, an employee will not be required to perform their duties in the usual manner they would normally be performed.

There are certain circumstances where employees may be suspended from work with pay, such as when an investigation is being conducted or in the context of a disciplinary process.

Ordinarily, the power to suspend an employee is a contractual term, but some…

Workplace culture can dramatically vary from workplace to workplace.

It is becoming increasingly challenging for employers and employees to understand where  the line is between a relaxed, open and friendly workplace culture, a robust workplace culture and what is a workplace with a bullying or harassment issue?

In a recent decision, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) was tasked with unpacking these difficult issues (Pridham and Rose v Viterra Operations Pty Ltd T/A…

Under workers compensation legislation, the “reasonable action” defence is one often relied upon by insurers against claims of work-related psychological injury.

The parameters of the “reasonable action” defence differ to some extent across the Australian states and territories. In some states, such as Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, the definition of “reasonable action” is quite broad and can encompass a wide range of actions by the employer. However, in other…

The introduction of family and domestic violence leave entitlements into modern awards and the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) last year was a significant development in Australian workplace relations. It has prompted employers to now give considerable thought as to how well their workplace is equipped to deal with such situations involving their employees.

What is the entitlement?

In summary, employees are entitled to a minimum of five days of unpaid…

The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) provides a minimum entitlement to redundancy pay in situations where an employee’s position is genuinely made redundant. There are exceptions, however, to when this entitlement will be paid, one of which is when the employer no longer requires the job to be done due to the “ordinary and customary turnover of labour”.

What this phrase actually means was recently considered by the Federal Court of Australia in the…

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has reduced an employee’s entitlement to redundancy pay to nil after an employer successfully argued that it obtained ‘other acceptable employment’ for the employee, which the employee had refused.

Under section 120 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act), the FWC has the discretion to reduce an employee’s entitlement to redundancy pay in either of the following circumstances:

(i) the employer obtains other acceptable employment for the…

A recent decision from the District Court of New South Wales has highlighted the importance of a host employer’s duty of care to any labour-hire worker it engages where the work directions and conditions are within the host employer’s knowledge and control.

In Castillo v Premist Framework Contractors Pty Ltd [2019] NSWC DC 6, a labour-hire worker successfully established that a host employer’s negligence caused him to sustain an injury to his left knee.

The labour-hire…

A recent decision of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia (the Court) has shown why employers must always exercise care when seeking to dismiss employees – even during their probation period.

In Pacheco-Hernandez v Duty Free Stores Gold Coast Pty Ltd [2018] FCCA 3734, an employer was ordered to pay $10,000 in compensation to a former supervisor who had been dismissed five months into her probation period.

At the time of the dismissal, the employer’s…