An essential feature of Australia’s commercial and cultural identity has been the regulation of employment. This has created significant hurdles for employers, as well as giving rise to a rich and sometimes complex area of legal practice. While it is tempting for practitioners to indulge themselves and each other in the vagaries and complexities of […]
Everyone has those appointments, tasks or events that they just don’t want to show up for. However, there are some things you must bite the bullet and attend. It should go without saying that one of those times is when your attendance is required by a court. It appears this common sense has not transferred […]
Technology has fundamentally altered the way in which we interact. Five billion people use text messages globally every day. Socially, it is one of our primary ways of interacting. Staggeringly, if you are dating someone born after 1984, there is a 53% chance that if that person ends your relationship, it will come to an […]
Following the Coalition’s surprise election victory last month, religious discrimination laws appear to be one of the first issues to be considered by the new federal parliament. Attorney-General Christian Porter has confirmed he will, in the near future, present a “largely uncontroversial” bill to parliament to prevent religious discrimination. Whilst the exact content of the […]
The Fair Work Commission has utilised recent changes to the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) to approve an enterprise agreement despite minor technical and procedural errors. There are strict requirements under the Fair Work Act that must be adhered to for an enterprise agreement to be approved by the Fair Work Commission. These include: A […]
The Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission this week held that an employee was unfairly dismissed for refusing to follow the employee’s direction to log in and out of work using a fingerprint scanner, on the grounds that this was not a ‘valid reason’ for dismissal. Typically, employers are able to dismiss an employee […]