February 18th, 2019 By Alexandria Anthony (Lawyer) and Stuart Pill (Partner) of Clayton Utz (7 February 2019)While cost orders in Fair Work Act matters are rare, a former employee's failure to accept a reasonable commercial offer can enable an employer to recover its costs.Parties involved in proceedings under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) should...
January 30th, 2019By Rachel Drew (Partner) and Damien Payard of Holding Redlich.Employers need to exercise caution when managing employees who have medical conditions or similar issues. Particular attention needs to be paid to ensure action is not taken because of a manifestation of the condition, such as side-effects of mental illnesses.A recent...
April 19th, 2018GENERAL PROTECTIONS: OH&S OFFICER NOT DISMISSED FOR RAISING WORKPLACE COMPLAINTS The Federal Circuit Court held that an employer discharged the onus of proving that it did not take adverse action against an employee because she exercised workplace rights by raising sexual harassment complaints about another employee.Morley v...
August 31st, 2017By Charles Power (Partner) and Ben McKinley of Holding Redlich.
A recent Federal Circuit Court decision has highlighted the difficulty of determining the real reasons for decisions in adverse action cases.
In Australian Rail, Tram and Bus Industry Union v Australian Western Railroad Pty Ltd FCCA 1954, Lucev J found Australian...
August 1st, 2017By Alexandra Shields, Norton Rose FulbrightWhen an organisation is considering making redundancies, it is important to consider whether employees who are pregnant or on parental leave are afforded any special protections under Australian law.Both the Fair Work Act 2009 and anti-discrimination legislation include provisions...
June 5th, 2017By Kerryn Tredwell (Partner) and Rhiannon Nixon (Lawyer) of Hall&Wilcox.A recent Federal Court case highlights the differences between how the ‘inherent requirements’ defence operates under the general protections provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act), as compared to under anti-discrimination legislation.In...
June 16th, 2016By Alan Colman (Partner), Janine Young (Partner) & Professor Anthony Forsyth (Consultant) of Corrs Chambers Westgarth (Corrs)On 1 June 2016, La Trobe University (La Trobe) suspended academic Roz Ward from her position, over a private Facebook post in which she criticised the Australian flag.The case has some similarities...
March 21st, 2016By Nicholas Ellery (Partner), Cara Leavesley (Senior Associate) of Corrs Chambers Westgarth (Corrs)Strictly speaking, it is not unlawful to make an employee redundant whilst they are on parental leave. However, employers may find themselves in hot water following a redundancy if the employer’s reasons for doing so are found by a...
November 9th, 2015By Simon Billing (Partner) & Courtney Fiddian (Associate) of Corrs Chambers Westgarth (Corrs)The general protections waters continue to be muddied, as an employer recently admitted to liability in the Federal Court for threatening to take adverse action based on prohibited reasons revealed in its own internal commercial...
September 9th, 2010Some of the most talked about new provisions in the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) are the “workplace rights” protections. It is hoped that these provisions will protect employees from any adverse action of their employer against their workplace rights, says James Mattson, executive lawyer for Bartier Perry.We have learnt in...
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