Published 11 February 2020 Minimum employment periods are required for employees for coverage under the unfair dismissal provisions contained in Part 3-2 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the FW Act). These are usually easily defined for permanent or part-time employees, but how are the employment periods considered for casual employees? Not all employees are protected…
Author: Brian Powles
Brian is an accredited specialist in employment and industrial relations law, who is partner of a successful boutique Sydney law firm. He also hosts the Working Knowledge podcast.
Are you ready for the new annualised salary arrangements taking effect from 1 March 2020?
Published 31 January 2020 In this edition of our newsletter, we take a look at which modern awards are affected by the new annualised salary obligations and the potential operational impact on employers. Under the four yearly review of modern awards, the Fair Work Commission (the FWC) has rendered a decision last July that finalised…
Sleeping Ferry Master was fairly sacked
Published 9 December 2019 Falling asleep at the job may not seem like a valid reason for dismissal in most cases, however the Fair Work Commission has upheld the dismissal of a Ferry Master who fell asleep whilst on duty. In Sclater v Transdev Harbour City Ferries Pty Ltd [2019] FWC 7968, the Fair Work Commission…
Podcast | Legal Issues Arising from Christmas Parties
Published 6 December 2019 As we rapidly approach the silly season, this episode of the podcast covers some important issues for employers, and employees, when organising and attending your upcoming end of year parties. You can listen to the podcast below, or by clicking the links to subscribe on your preferred streaming service: Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2YiRq5K Google…
Employee reinstated despite beers before shift
Published 29 November 2019 In a recent case the Fair Work Commission has reinstated an employee despite the employee returning a positive alcohol breath test over the company’s Drug and Alcohol Policy limit of 0.00. In Morcos v Serco Australia Pty Ltd [2019] FWC 7675, the Fair Work Commission has reinstated an employee despite the employee accepting a…
Navigating the New Whistleblower Laws – Part 2
Published 22 November 2019 In our recent newsletter, we examined some of the key changes of the expanded corporate whistleblowing scheme that has been in force since 1 July 2019. This week, in part 2 of our newsletter, we will take a look at who is required to have a whistleblower policy under the expanded…