Government to pay super on PPL payments from 1 July 2025
In September, the Government successfully negotiated passage of its Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Adding Superannuation for a More Secure Retirement) Bill 2024 through both Houses of Parliament, receiving assent on 1 October 2024. The legislation will facilitate the Government making superannuation contributions for people receiving paid parental leave (PPL) in respect of children born on or after 1 July 2025.
Continue reading “Government to pay super on PPL payments from 1 July 2025”Enhanced obligation on QLD employers to eliminate sex harassment
Queensland Parliament recently passed the State Labor Government’s Respect at Work and Other Matters Amendment Bill 2024 (Qld), which will usher in changes to the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Qld) from 1 July 2025, including a new positive duty on Queensland employers to eliminate all unlawful discrimination, harassment and other objectionable conduct in the workplace.
Continue reading “Enhanced obligation on QLD employers to eliminate sex harassment”Inquiry report recommends paid leave and flexible work to support reproductive health
Last month, a report resulting from a Senate inquiry into issues related to menopause and perimenopause recommended the Government consider amending the National Employment Standards (NES) to ensure menopausal women can access the right to request flexible working arrangements, while also enshrining an entitlement to paid reproductive health leave in both the NES and the Modern Awards.
Continue reading “Inquiry report recommends paid leave and flexible work to support reproductive health”Intriguing General Protections argument challenges last-minute probationary dismissal
The Chief Executive of a small non-profit organization who was summarily dismissed hours before he would have completed his minimum employment period – allegedly for sexually harassing a new assistant – has been temporarily reinstated into his role, and won the right to challenge his termination via the general protections jurisdiction, with Judge Nicholas of the Federal Court finding he established “a prima facie case” that the timing of his dismissal was influenced by a desire to ensure he could not make a claim for unfair dismissal.
Continue reading “Intriguing General Protections argument challenges last-minute probationary dismissal”Separation Certificate request ended employment: FWC
A labour hire employee has been denied opportunity to pursue an unfair dismissal claim, with the Fair Work Commission confirming his request that he be furnished with a Separation Certificate to enable him to claim unemployment benefits definitively concluded his employment, whilst at the same time lamenting the “invidious position” the out-of-work casual found himself in.
Continue reading “Separation Certificate request ended employment: FWC”Tweed to Brisbane job change not suitable alternative employment
A recent decision of the Fair Work Commission has shed light on the age-old debate of when redeployment opportunities constitute “other acceptable employment”, with Deputy President Lake rejecting an employer’s application to reduce an employee’s redundancy pay because they had offered ongoing employment in Wacol, when his job in the Tweed Valley ended.
Continue reading “Tweed to Brisbane job change not suitable alternative employment”‘Right to Disconnect’ accessible to eligible employees from 26 August
Commencing 26 August 2024, employees of employers that are not small business employers will have access to the new right to disconnect mechanism, which results from the continued rollout of the Albanese Government’s ‘Closing Loopholes No. 2’ legislation. The right to disconnect will become available to employees of small business employers from 26 August 2025.
Continue reading “‘Right to Disconnect’ accessible to eligible employees from 26 August”Gender Undervaluation FWC Major Case – Progress Update
As part of the 2023-24 Annual Wage Review Decision, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) established its Gender Undervaluation – Priority Awards Review process. The review, commenced on the Commission’s own motion, is designed to consider variations to classifications and minimum wage rates on work value grounds within six Modern Awards applicable in highly feminised industries, “to remedy potential gender undervaluation”. The FWC handed down its decision, which includes provisional views on the Modern Awards discussed in this article, on 16 April 2025.
Continue reading “Gender Undervaluation FWC Major Case – Progress Update”Dismissal for workplace injury, unfortunate but not unfair
A sizeable non-profit organisation has narrowly avoided disaster before the Fair Work Commission (FWC), after successfully arguing that its dismissal of an injured employee – actioned whilst her worker’s compensation claim remained in effect – due to her inability to resume her primary role, was not unfair.
Continue reading “Dismissal for workplace injury, unfortunate but not unfair”FWC orders WFH employee back to office despite “challenging and difficult” personal life
A Brisbane-based member of the Fair Work Commission has offered sage guidance for employers when rejecting employees’ requests for flexible working arrangements on reasonable business grounds, with Deputy President Nicholas Lake ordering a resistant remote worker partially back into the office, despite the employer failing to provide “a sufficient explanation” for refusing his request to remain wholly remote.
Continue reading “FWC orders WFH employee back to office despite “challenging and difficult” personal life”OUR SERVICES
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