From January 1, 2025, Australia implemented new criminal wages theft legislation under the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Act 2023. The legislation makes it a crime to intentionally underpay an employee. Even though most employers are committed to doing the right thing, these changes mirror the government's zero-tolerance policy towards deliberate exploitation of wages—and […]
Retirement might feel like a distant concept when you're knee-deep in work priorities and still paying school fees, but for a growing part of your workforce, it’s right around the corner. And here’s the thing: it’s a big transition for both the employee and your business. Handled well, supporting employees towards retirement can strengthen your […]
Recent Victorian Supreme Court decisions have significantly broadened the scope of portable long service leave (PLSL) obligations in the state - impacting employers across a wide range of industries: you may now be required to contribute to a portable leave scheme, even if you’re not traditionally considered part of the construction sector. What is portable […]
Small and medium-sized businesses often rely on non-compete clauses to protect their competitive edge when employees leave. However, Australian courts take a cautious approach to these clauses, balancing employers’ interests with employees’ rights to earn a living. Knowing this, is it worthwhile including a non-compete clause in an employment contract? What is a non-compete clause? […]
An employee has just approached you with a request to ‘cash out’ a portion of their annual leave. Roger doesn’t want to take the time off – he just wants the cold, hard cash in this instance. He’s got seven weeks up his sleeve and he’s requested to cash out one week of his accrued […]
Psychosocial safety has emerged as a critical focus area in modern workplaces, especially as businesses seek to ensure not just the physical wellbeing of their employees but also their mental and social wellbeing and safety. This can be a challenging area for some to manage as there are many moving parts, but one powerful way […]
Recently we wrote about the changes that the Closing the Loopholes legislation is bringing to casual employment kicking off on 26th August. It’s been a busy year for all of us so these changes may not be registering on your radar. Here’s a quick reminder: Definition of a Casual In short, the definition of a […]
Recently we were recruiting for a client and the role required the successful applicant to be able to be physically fit due to the nature of the work. We needed to manage this prior to appointing anyone to the position as this client had been burned before with a previous employee not disclosing a pre-existing […]
In our last blog, we talked about the changes coming to casual employment as of 26th August this year. This time, we are taking a look at one of the key elements of casual employment that underpins the definition and will assist you when assessing an application from an employee who wishes to convert from […]
For those businesses wanting, or requiring, casual employees as a part of their workforce, more changes have been made as a part of the Closing the Loopholes no. 2 legislation that has now passed through Federal Parliament. The changes impacting how we look at ‘casual employment’ take effect on 26 August 2024 so let’s look […]
