UPDATE on Multi-employer bargaining

The controversial part of the new legislation traverses areas of existing provisions about multi-employer agreements and introduces some new elements. The component parts are variously referred to as “single interest bargaining” or “supported bargaining” or “cooperative bargaining”. What is common to all of these is the enhanced capacity for agreements to be made that will apply to multiple employers, more akin to an award than the single enterprise agreement most employers that bargain are used to. And greater involvement of the FWC.

Fair Work Act changes: how most employers will be impacted

The amendments to the Fair Work Act passed parliament on 2nd December and will soon be signed into law. The public and political focus has been confined mainly to the multi-employer bargaining changes, but there are other, more generalist, matters likely to affect most employers in some way.

Briefing Note on Some Aspects of proposed Fair Work Act Amendments – November 2022

Introduction In late October, the federal government introduced a Bill to amend the Fair Work Act in a range of areas and has subsequently introduced an amendment to that Bill in response to various business reactions. The Bill includes measures concerning, among other things, equal remuneration, sexual harassment, fixed term contracts, anti-discrimination, flexible working arrangements […]

Rushed undertaking creates headache

It’s commonplace for employers to give undertakings when applying for approval of enterprise agreements. And one employer’s eagerness to get a matter sorted has required a thorny follow-up case to rectify an undertaking that went well beyond what was needed.

Minimum employment period needs to be calculated carefully

An employee lost her unfair dismissal bid because she mistakenly understood her minimum employment period let her through the gate. That period depends on the size of the employer, so will be either six or 12 months, but the principles to determine eligibility are the same.

Contractual certainty tested for trainee

A recent case of interest to employers who engage interns, student trainees and the like, saw the FWC determine that a trainee was not an employee, so lacked jurisdiction to deal with his grievance. The decision focussed on the primacy of the written contract to determine the relationship.

Unfair Dismissal and Vaccination

The last six months or so has seen a flood of unfair dismissal cases where employees have declined to become inoculated against Covid 19 and consequently lost their jobs. The FWC has pointed out some facts attaching to this type of claim.

Summary Dismissal and Procedural Fairness

It has always been available to employers to instantly dismiss an employee and not pay Notice. But the circumstances in which this scenario is supported by the Unfair Dismissal regime under the Fair Work Act have narrowed over the years, as a recent case illustrates.