A court has awarded an employer $270k in damages after two of its employees left to establish their own business, in breach of their 12-month contractual restraints.
Some risk is unavoidable when engaging contingent workers, but certain steps can go a long way towards preventing regulator scrutiny and entitlement claims, a lawyer says.
Ensuring that clients can freely choose who they work with was a crucial point in a court decision that refused to grant an employer's request for an interlocutory restraint order covering its departing employees.
Simply "responding positively" to an approach from a former client doesn't amount to solicitation, a court has highlighted, in refusing to restrain an employee accused of breaching his employment contract.
A decision that found an employee was dismissed when her fixed-term contract was allowed to "meander to its conclusion" highlights the need for employers to "exercise caution" in this area, a lawyer stresses.
In one of the first tests of the Fair Work Act's fixed-term contract restrictions, the Fair Work Commission has found a senior HRBP's third contract was for a substantially different role and therefore didn't breach the provisions.
Banning non-compete clauses is a "sensible" move for some workers, however employers should be concerned if the changes go further than has currently been flagged, a lawyer says.
The finality of settlement deeds is being challenged more frequently by ex-employees, meaning employers often can't assume a dispute is "done and dusted". Watch this HR Daily Premium webcast to understand how to achieve mutually binding agreements, with minimal risk of further disputes.
An employer sacked its new CEO because it believed he was complicit in removing board members from a meeting using "burly, tattooed men", and not because he made whistleblower disclosures, the Federal Court has found.
The seven-figure damages award arising from a mishandled termination process serves as an extra reminder for employers to consider the interplay between employment contracts and company policies and procedures, a workplace lawyer says.
Workplace bullying complaints continue to pose significant challenges for employers, including where the behaviour doesn't meet the legal definition of bullying or the threshold to make a claim. Watch this HR Daily Premium webcast to understand key lessons from cases where bullying complaints interact with other claims and issues.
What constitutes "best practice" when managing neurodiversity at work is evolving all the time. Watch this HR Daily Premium webcast to learn how to embed neuroinclusive practices into HR programs and every stage of the employment lifecycle.
