Details of the imminent IR legislation have now been revealed, including a statutory definition of casual work, a fix for double-dipping claims and expanded casual conversion rights.
The Fair Work Commission has accepted an employer's claim that its procedural failures when dismissing an underperforming manager didn't matter to the usual degree, because he had completed the minimum employment period only 11 hours earlier.
Employee resignations are on the rise, and so are disputes about whether they are genuine, or constructive dismissals. This Q&A discusses protective and preventative steps employers can take.
An employee who was "coasting along" under a remote manager has successfully challenged his dismissal, on the basis he was never properly warned that his performance wasn't up to scratch.
Research the FWC is using to inform its award flexibility proposals suggests employees should have a right not to work from home. Also in this article, a new Australian study outlines optimal working from home conditions.
A manager should have better controlled his "easily triggered" temper, the Fair Work Commission has said in upholding his dismissal for verbally abusing a female colleague.
Making employment laws fit for purpose will require much more than "tweaks", and already there appears to be a lost opportunity for input beyond the "usual suspects" with entrenched views, an IR heavyweight says.
An employee's opportunity to respond before he was sacked for serious misconduct was too "narrow in scope", an FWC full bench has ruled, while nonetheless upholding the dismissal as fair.
HR's challenges around remote and flexible working will continue to develop in 2021, while compliance is an area that "will come back with a vengeance", an employment lawyer says.
Two managers could have handled certain situations better, according to the Fair Work Commission, but it has stopped short of granting stop-bullying orders to an employee who claimed he was "insulted and humiliated" by them.
All employers should consider putting in place a workplace s-xual harassment prevention plan, even though such plans are only expressly prescribed in one jurisdiction, according to a risk management expert.
Recent events have shone a spotlight on whistleblowing, placing employers firmly on notice that their response to a protected disclosure could be subject to intense scrutiny. Watch this webcast to understand the role HR plays in this challenging space.