Jail sentence and record fine against reckless employer sets benchmark for WHS prosecutions

Written by Zoe Brodie and Lindsay Carroll. In the first charge of reckless conduct to be successfully tried under...

Written by Zoe Brodie and Lindsay Carroll. In the first charge of reckless conduct to be successfully tried under the harmonised work health and safety legislation, a director of a Queensland roofing company has been sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for his contribution to the fatality of a 62-year-old...

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Elementary, my dear Commissioner: Foodora dismissal case changes nothing

By Alex Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal On Friday 16 November 2018, the Fair Work Commission handed down its...

By Alex Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal On Friday 16 November 2018, the Fair Work Commission handed down its decision in an unfair dismissal claim against food delivery app service Foodora. The case, brought by former Melbourne Foodora rider Mr Josh Klooger with the assistance of the Transport Workers’ Union,...

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Over and above – attracting and retaining quality employees

By Calum Woods and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal Last week, Westpac’s workforce voted overwhelmingly in favour of a ground-breaking new...

By Calum Woods and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal Last week, Westpac’s workforce voted overwhelmingly in favour of a ground-breaking new enterprise agreement. The agreement, which was supported by the Finance Sector Union, contains a novel entitlement for transgender employees undergoing gender transition to access up to four weeks’ of paid...

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Fair Work Commission resolves ambiguity around casual penalty rates

You will recall at the beginning of this month the NRA had reported on the Fair Work Commission’s (FWC)...

You will recall at the beginning of this month the NRA had reported on the Fair Work Commission’s (FWC) decision to introduce additional penalties for casual employees under the General Retail Industry Award 2010 (the Retail Award). Last week, the National Retail Association (NRA) intervened in the matter and filed...

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The nightmare before Christmas – new penalty rates from 1 November 2018

By Calum Woods and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal From 1 November 2018, retailers will be required to pay a new...

By Calum Woods and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal From 1 November 2018, retailers will be required to pay a new evening penalty rate to casual employees for work performed after 6:00pm Monday – Friday. In a decision issued 27 September 2018, the Fair Work Commission (Commission) determined that the new penalty...

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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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Top tips for engaging casual employees over Christmas

Written by Sooraj Sidhu and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal According to recent analysis by global job search platform Indeed, 67%...

Written by Sooraj Sidhu and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal According to recent analysis by global job search platform Indeed, 67% of Christmas job opportunities in Australia are created in the retail sector to help serve the Christmas shopping frenzy. Last year, Australians spent in excess of $26 billion during the month...

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Family and domestic violence leave introduced into modern awards

From 1 August 2018, modern awards were varied to include the family and domestic violence leave. This means that...

From 1 August 2018, modern awards were varied to include the family and domestic violence leave. This means that employees covered by a modern award are entitled to take five days’ unpaid leave if they are affected by family or domestic violence. The changes do not extend to employees covered...

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Fair Work Commission announces action plan to assist small business employers

By Sooraj Sidhu and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal Yesterday, the Fair Work Commission’s (FWC) president Iain Ross responded to reports...

By Sooraj Sidhu and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal Yesterday, the Fair Work Commission’s (FWC) president Iain Ross responded to reports commissioned last year, which urged the establishment of a ‘Small Business Division’ of the Fair Work Commission and the reduction of red tape associated with unfair dismissal and adverse action...

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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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Commission finds employer had no right to accept employee’s repeated resignations

By Alexander Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal Following a protracted legal battle that involved an initial hearing, an appeal...

By Alexander Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal Following a protracted legal battle that involved an initial hearing, an appeal and a re-hearing, the Fair Work Commission has held that an employer had no right to accept the repeated resignations of a distressed employee undergoing internal investigation. Bupa Aged Care Australia...

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Message from the CEO, Dominique Lamb: 16 January 2018

Retailers this week may feel a little like drought-stricken farmers following a drenching, after the Australia Bureau of Statistics...

Retailers this week may feel a little like drought-stricken farmers following a drenching, after the Australia Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released its retail trade report for November. The nation enjoyed a rather robust jump of 1.2 per cent in total sales to $26.4 billion – three times the market forecast...

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Message from the CEO, Dominique Lamb: 9 January 2018

Retailers naturally love a bustling store environment, but following 2017’s frenetic pre-Christmas rush and Boxing Day madness, on the...

Retailers naturally love a bustling store environment, but following 2017’s frenetic pre-Christmas rush and Boxing Day madness, on the back of what seemed like an entire year of uncertainty, it may be time for a little rest and reboot! 2017 certainly threw us a few curveballs - from the absurd...

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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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Message from the CEO: 1 August 2017

Last week the National Retail Association bid farewell to our office in Woolloongabba for a new headquarters situated in...

Last week the National Retail Association bid farewell to our office in Woolloongabba for a new headquarters situated in the bustling Inner-Brisbane suburb of Milton. While our old office had served the NRA well, in order for us to continue providing the very best service to our members, we felt...

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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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