May 4

Out of work conduct: when is dismissal justified?

We see it all the time in professional sports: athletes losing their contracts over poor decisions made away from the game. Take for example, Todd Carney who was spectacularly sacked from the Cronulla Sharks, without procedural fairness, following the ‘bubbler’ incident, or Nick D’Arcy who was kicked off the Australian swimming team bound for the […]

April 19

Balancing your need for information with workplace surveillance legislation

Workplace surveillance can be a tricky slope to manage for employers, with their thirst for knowledge about their employee’s activities sometimes outweighing their requirement to comply with legislative obligations. It is understandable: an employer provides the workplace so therefore, they should be able to monitor that workplace in any way they like, right? Unfortunately that […]

March 9

Assessing the ‘Cultural Fit’ – smart practice, or unlawful discrimination?

For many years within the human resources world  ‘cultural fit’ has been a popular concept.  A way to describe the mysterious and  elusive je ne sais quoi that separates the employees who have a bright future in a company from the employees who don’t.   Often the term ‘poor cultural fit’ will be used to justify […]