COVID Controversy: Obtaining pandemic-relevant information from employees

By Andrew Piper and Alex Millman, NRA Legal As businesses navigate the challenges of ensuring the health and safety of...

By Andrew Piper and Alex Millman, NRA Legal As businesses navigate the challenges of ensuring the health and safety of their customers and employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, they must be careful to avoid infringing upon the privacy of their employees. A recent decision in the Fair Work Commission is useful...

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Presumptuous payroll rules end in heavy penalties for employer

By Alex Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal In a stern warning for employers who “automate” certain parts of their...

By Alex Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal In a stern warning for employers who “automate” certain parts of their payroll processes, the South Australian Employment Tribunal (the Tribunal) has slammed an employer with significant penalties for automatically deducting unpaid meal breaks from an employee’s day. The Tribunal also imposed penalties...

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“Hopelessly cavalier”: Fair Work Commission cracks down on discriminatory redundancies

By Calum Woods and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal The Fair Work Commission has taken aim at a family-owned retail business...

By Calum Woods and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal The Fair Work Commission has taken aim at a family-owned retail business and a financial services firm, both of whom restructured their operations after they were notified that two respective employees had fallen pregnant. In a rare consent arbitration, Compuworld was found to...

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Inquiry by a prospective employee not “protected” under Fair Work Act

By Andrew Piper and Alex Millman In a fascinating case before the Federal Court of Australia, Justice Steward considered whether...

By Andrew Piper and Alex Millman In a fascinating case before the Federal Court of Australia, Justice Steward considered whether a prospective employee has a workplace right to make inquiries about their prospective employment. Such a question obviously has significant ramifications for how an employer conducts itself when negotiating contract terms...

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Qantas wins right to not pay sick leave to stood down workers

By Alex Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal In something of a speed record for the Australian judicial system, less...

By Alex Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal In something of a speed record for the Australian judicial system, less than three weeks after final submissions were made the Federal Court of Australia yesterday ruled that Qantas workers who have been stood down are not entitled to paid personal (sick)...

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Employer’s unfair dismissal objection fails after incorrect count of staff numbers

By Alex Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal It is no secret that the retail, fast food and restaurant industries...

By Alex Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal It is no secret that the retail, fast food and restaurant industries include the highest proportion of casual employees in Australia. This means that, when it comes to matters like unfair dismissals, it can sometimes be hard to determine how casual employees...

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New Fair Work amendments in Parliament as Commission proposes to add domestic violence leave to awards

By Alex Millman, NRA Legal Yesterday in Parliament, Greens MP Mr Adam Bandt proposed two new amendments to the Fair...

By Alex Millman, NRA Legal Yesterday in Parliament, Greens MP Mr Adam Bandt proposed two new amendments to the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act). The first of these, the Fair Work Amendment (Better Work/Life Balance) Bill 2018, proposes to amend the flexible working arrangements provisions of section 65 of the...

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Additional Obligations when Making Redundancies

By Sid Sidhu, Workplace Relations Advisor, and Emma Treherne, Principal Workplace Relations Advisor, NRA Legal Are you aware of your...

By Sid Sidhu, Workplace Relations Advisor, and Emma Treherne, Principal Workplace Relations Advisor, NRA Legal Are you aware of your obligations when making 15 or more staff redundant? Employers looking to dismiss 15 or more employees by way of redundancy are required to carry out additional obligations under the Fair Work...

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Fixed-term employment contracts – Beware of the unfair dismissal risk

By Alex Millman and Justine Ansell, NRA Legal Khayam v Navitas English Pty Ltd FWCFB 5162 Members will recall that...

By Alex Millman and Justine Ansell, NRA Legal Khayam v Navitas English Pty Ltd FWCFB 5162 Members will recall that earlier this year the Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission foreshadowed that it would re-evaluate how the Commission approached fixed-term contracts in unfair dismissal cases, namely whether a contract...

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Things you need to know when employing young workers this Christmas

With consumers gearing up to spend big over the Christmas period and summer holidays, retailers are busy preparing themselves...

With consumers gearing up to spend big over the Christmas period and summer holidays, retailers are busy preparing themselves and employing young workers to assist over the coming weeks. But are you aware of the laws around young workers? It is certainly not the case that you can pay your...

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The crackdown on retailers and restaurants has begun

Retailers and restaurants targeted for underpayments and false records with massive fines Written by Sid Sidhu and Justine Ansell, NRA...

Retailers and restaurants targeted for underpayments and false records with massive fines Written by Sid Sidhu and Justine Ansell, NRA Legal The crackdown on retailers, fast food stores and restaurants avoiding their obligations has well and truly begun. As predicted, the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) has increased its auditing activity and...

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Franchise Privacy

FRANCHISORS – CAN YOU ACCESS YOUR FRANCHISEE’S EMPLOYMENT RECORDS TO CONDUCT FAIR WORK COMPLIANCE AUDITS? With the recent amendments to...

FRANCHISORS – CAN YOU ACCESS YOUR FRANCHISEE’S EMPLOYMENT RECORDS TO CONDUCT FAIR WORK COMPLIANCE AUDITS? With the recent amendments to the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) to protect vulnerable workers, many franchisors are considering what they can do to protect themselves from liability for contraventions to the Fair Work Act...

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Penalised for the best of intentions

Protect yourself from costly mistakes by getting professional advice By Alex Millman and Justine Ansell, NRA Legal A mistake in handling...

Protect yourself from costly mistakes by getting professional advice By Alex Millman and Justine Ansell, NRA Legal A mistake in handling an employee’s redundancy around the same time as the commencement of her maternity leave has cost an employer $57,842.99 in compensation and penalties. The court found that had the manager consulted...

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NRA are standing up for retail and fast food in the Penalty Rates Case

By Alex Millman and Justine Ansell, NRA Legal The union challenge to the Fair Work Commission’s decision to cut penalty...

By Alex Millman and Justine Ansell, NRA Legal The union challenge to the Fair Work Commission’s decision to cut penalty rates in the retail, fast food and hospitality sectors wrapped up yesterday, with the Federal Court reserving its decision to be handed down at a later date. With five judges, approximately...

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Fair Work Inspectors conduct surprise on-site audits in Melbourne

NRA Legal Once again, the Fair Work Ombudsman (‘FWO’) has demonstrated its broad powers to conduct on-site audits, this time...

NRA Legal Once again, the Fair Work Ombudsman (‘FWO’) has demonstrated its broad powers to conduct on-site audits, this time in Melbourne’s entertainment hot spots including Carlton, Brunswick and Fitzroy North. In a reprise of similar events in Sydney’s South-West and Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley earlier this year, the FWO has sent...

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End of contract means no dismissal? Maybe not …

By Alex Millman and Angela Szczepanski, NRA Legal Khayam v Navitas English Pty Ltd T/A Navitas English FWCFB 4092 The...

By Alex Millman and Angela Szczepanski, NRA Legal Khayam v Navitas English Pty Ltd T/A Navitas English FWCFB 4092 The Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission has granted a teacher leave to appeal against the decision dismissing his unfair dismissal application, challenging long-established precedent claiming that his employment was...

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