Have you ever wondered if you can stand in the shoes of a deceased applicant and continue their unfair dismissal proceedings on their behalf? In our latest Employment blog, Lawyer Shanni Zoeller addresses this very question.

It is important to know the details of the relevant Drug & Alcohol policy applicable to your workplace, before making any rash decisions. Lawyer Shanni Zoeller, outlines what needs to be considered before terminating an employee for being under the influence.

The Federal Government has announced another attempt at offering an amnesty to employers who have not complied with superannuation guarantee legislation. In this article, Principal Lawyer Stephen Booth outlines what this means for employers.

It should go without saying that employees should apply for leave and have it approved by their employer before booking any flights, accommodation, tours or activities. But what happens if the employee takes time off anyway? Lawyer Shanni Zoeller has written about Central Milk Supplies terminating Mr. Innes’s employment for this very reason.

In addition to being well-known brands, 7-Eleven, Sunglass Hut and Subway all have one thing in common – they have all been found to have underpaid their employees and have been penalised recently by the Fair Work Ombudsman.

There is often confusion of how employers should calculate and pay employees’ personal, carer’s and sick leave, on the basis of hours and days. Lawyer, Shanni Zoeller has written about the decision of the Full Federal Court in Mondelez v AMWU [2019], which has raised some fundamental questions about the technicalities of how employers accrue hours or days for personal/carer’s leave.

Principal Lawyer Stephen Booth has written about the recent Comcare V Banerji case, involving a public servant who anonymously criticised the Government on migration policies and asylum seeker detention on Twitter. This case sheds some light on an employer’s rights to enforce a code of conduct with respect to conduct outside work.

Where employees are involved in domestic violence situations, or where a business is embroiled in family violence between people working in the business, employers need to take a step back, and consider both employment law issues and, in family businesses, family law issues, before acting.

There’s no surprise why companies want to sponsor migrants; their global skills enhance the business’ competitiveness by offering something unique and the company’s culture is enriched with diversity. What happens though when it’s time to call quits on your employment relationship with a visa holder?

In the unfair dismissal jurisdiction, an employee has 21 days after a dismissal has taken effect to lodge their application with the Fair Work Commission. However, the Commission has the discretion to grant an extension of time if it’s satisfied that “exceptional circumstances” exist.

Under the Fair Work Act, whether an unpaid work arrangement is lawful will depend on whether an employment relationship exists, or whether the work involves a vocational placement. Whether work experience, a placement or internship is employment must be considered on a case-by-case, factual basis. Employers should ask themselves these questions before engaging an unpaid worker.

The last few years has seen a significant spike in defamation litigation, much of which has prompted by careless comments made either via email or on social media platforms.  One recent example which demonstrates the risk within an employment law context is the case of Bowden v KSMC Holdings Pty Ltd t/as Hubba Bubba Childcare on Haig & Chapman [2019].

Israel Folau recently published some awful comments to Instagram, which have since been shared by the media to an audience of millions. Rugby Australia’s answer was to convene a panel, which included two of Australia’s pre-eminent employment law silks, to decide whether Folau was guilty of breaching its Code of Conduct – and the panel subsequently determined that Folau was indeed guilty as charged.  This piece delves into the details of whether or not Folau’s Instagram post actually put him in breach of contract.