Employers are required to walk a tight-rope every time they hire a new employee. The Fair Work Provisions that prohibit discrimination against prospective employees are broad. However, in reality, these situations are almost impossible to enforce. Discrimination is an essential aspect of the human condition. We ‘discriminate’ thousands of times a day. When we choose the…
Tag: General Protections
Same-sex marriage and religious protections at work. Are we getting the full story?
The topic of same-sex marriage has been hotly debated since the Government announced its plans for a postal plebiscite on the issue. Most in favour of change recognise this as a human rights issue, and most against change consider it an attack on religion, free speech, or other undefined ‘values’. But there has been very…
‘Because’ – four reasons why a simple word has confused employment lawyers for a generation
There are over 200,000 words in the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). It is longer than the New Testament. It is a ‘plain English statute’, which means most of the words are ordinary. The word ‘and’ is used 3,099 times, ‘or’ is used 5,030 times, and the word ‘if’ is used 1,478 times. The word…
Unfair Dismissal or General Protection? A high pressure choice facing employee litigants
When National system employees are unlawfully dismissed from employment they will generally have a choice of which section under the Fair Work Act to make their application. Was it an Unfair Dismissal, or was it a contravention of a General Protection involving dismissal? There is considerable overlap in these actions, but the Fair Work Act…