The fruits of forethought: good planning gives employers victory in Fair Work Commission

By Alex Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal All too often, tales from the Fair Work Commission reveal the woes...

By Alex Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal All too often, tales from the Fair Work Commission reveal the woes of what happens when employers are too trigger-happy in sacking their employees. When employers lose unfair dismissal claims, it is usually because they have jumped the gun and dismissed the employee...

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Employee pays ex-employer’s costs after vexatious unfair dismissal claim

By Sooraj Sidhu and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal In an unusual case before the Fair Work Commission, an employee has...

By Sooraj Sidhu and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal In an unusual case before the Fair Work Commission, an employee has been ordered to pay indemnity costs after finding that she continued to press an unfair dismissal application that was “doomed to fail”. Ordinarily, parties to a claim before the Fair Work...

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Court confirms employer’s right to direct employees on sick leave

By Alex Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal When employees are absent from work on sick leave, employers often have...

By Alex Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal When employees are absent from work on sick leave, employers often have to walk a narrow line between the lawful and the unlawful. On the one hand, the employee has the right to be absent on sick leave, and interfering with that right...

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Deliberate contraventions of workplace laws empties employer’s pockets

By Emma Treherne and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal An employer who deliberately withheld parental leave payments to an employee...

By Emma Treherne and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal An employer who deliberately withheld parental leave payments to an employee has been ordered to pay a whopping $98,700.00 in penalties. Judge Nicholls of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia held that both the employer and company director of the employer broke...

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Court rejects employee’s $200,000 overtime claim

By Alexander Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal The Federal Circuit Court has rejected an Australia Post employee’s claim for...

By Alexander Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal The Federal Circuit Court has rejected an Australia Post employee’s claim for almost $200,000 of unpaid entitlements, which he alleged he had accrued by working two jobs for his employer at the same time. Judge McNab held that the two jobs were separate...

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Redundancy and redeployment

By Alex Millman and Troy Wild, NRA Legal Readers may recall our previous article in which we discussed the requirement...

By Alex Millman and Troy Wild, NRA Legal Readers may recall our previous article in which we discussed the requirement on employers to consult with their employees when undertaking a business restructure (see article here). In that article we identified that of the three matters that make up a ‘genuine redundancy’...

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Surveillance in the workplace (and when it goes wrong)

By Alexander Millman and Angela Szczepanski, NRA Legal  Ms Shahin Tavassoli v Bupa Aged Care Mosman A recent case reminds employers...

By Alexander Millman and Angela Szczepanski, NRA Legal  Ms Shahin Tavassoli v Bupa Aged Care Mosman A recent case reminds employers that care must be taken when relying on evidence obtained from workplace surveillance to dismiss an employee, and the need to afford employees procedural fairness even when it appears to...

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Employers can compel medical assessment

by Sid Sidhu and Troy Wild, NRA Legal Full Court affirms employer’s right to compel medical assessment Grant v BHP Coal...

by Sid Sidhu and Troy Wild, NRA Legal Full Court affirms employer’s right to compel medical assessment Grant v BHP Coal Pty Ltd FCAFC 42 (10 March 2017) The Full Federal Court has confirmed that employers have the right to dismiss an employee should they refuse to attend a medical appointment...

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Wage subsidies for employers

jobactive is a an Australian Government program to assist more Australians into work. It connects job seekers with employers and...

jobactive is a an Australian Government program to assist more Australians into work. It connects job seekers with employers and is delivered by a network of jobactive providers in over 1700 locations across Australia. A jobactive provider can help you access wage subsidies of up to $6,500 (GST inclusive) for employing...

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Employment outcomes for our Ready for Retail students

This week the NRA Ready for Retail Program has reached our 51st job outcome for our program, which is...

This week the NRA Ready for Retail Program has reached our 51st job outcome for our program, which is funded through the Queensland Government Skilling Queenslanders for Work (SQW) Program. Danielle Owen trained in our course in Chermside and undertook her work experience at the Chemist Warehouse in Ashgrove.  She...

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Back to Work Funding now available for Queensland members

Applications are now open for eligible employers to access the Queensland Government's Back to Work Employer Support Payments. This $100...

Applications are now open for eligible employers to access the Queensland Government's Back to Work Employer Support Payments. This $100 million Back to Work regional jobs package specifically targets jobseekers and employers outside the southeast corner of Queensland and includes payments of $10,000 for employers who hire an unemployed worker,...

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Mentally healthy workplaces rated highly by younger employees

Gen Y, millennials, the internet generation – whatever you call them, younger workers are the future of your business. And...

Gen Y, millennials, the internet generation – whatever you call them, younger workers are the future of your business. And whatever you think of their values and motivations, they are career focused and know what they ideally want to attain. The problem lies in that they're often not sure how...

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IR Update: Employer Hit with $128,000 Adverse Action Payment

The recent case of Fair Work Ombudsman v F.L. Press Pty Ltd & Anor (No 2) FCCA 2967...

The recent case of Fair Work Ombudsman v F.L. Press Pty Ltd & Anor (No 2) FCCA 2967 (4 November 2015) serves as a timely reminder to employers to seek advice as to the appropriate classification of employees, and be mindful of what actions might be considered adverse...

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IR Update: General protections claims on the rise

According to the Fair Work Commission’s newly-released annual report, general protections claims involving termination of an employee has risen...

According to the Fair Work Commission’s newly-released annual report, general protections claims involving termination of an employee has risen by 17.5% in 2014-15. This increase is slightly down in comparison to the previous year. However, the number of claims grew to a total of 3382, with around one third...

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IR Update: “Smart Arse” sacked

An employer has been unable to successfully establish that they dismissed a client analyst as a result of poor...

An employer has been unable to successfully establish that they dismissed a client analyst as a result of poor performance. Employment of Mr Anderson with BNP was subject to a three month probationary period. Just days prior to his termination, Mr Anderson was confronted by his supervisor in earshot of...

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