The road to Hell …

By Alex Millman and Troy Wild, NRA Legal … is paved with good intentions. An employer who moved forward the date...

By Alex Millman and Troy Wild, NRA Legal … is paved with good intentions. An employer who moved forward the date of an employee’s redundancy so that she would be aware of it before she returned from maternity leave has been found to have breached the Fair Work Act (FW Act). Power...

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Controversial conversation in a cafe

By Alex Millman and Troy Wild, NRA Legal A café supervisor who was dismissed for calling his manager a ‘racist...

By Alex Millman and Troy Wild, NRA Legal A café supervisor who was dismissed for calling his manager a ‘racist b****’ has been awarded a to-be-determined amount of compensation by the Fair Work Commission. The case highlights how the particular circumstances in which an action was taken can drastically change the...

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Requirement to ‘consult’ in the redundancy process

By Alex Millman, Sid Sidhu and Troy Wild, NRA Legal Restructuring a business often involves making employees redundant. This is...

By Alex Millman, Sid Sidhu and Troy Wild, NRA Legal Restructuring a business often involves making employees redundant. This is an unfortunate but logical truth. There is a natural tension between the freedom for businesses to be able to structure their operations in the most effective manner possible, and the need...

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State Parliament pushes for changes to WHS legislation

NRA Legal A new Bill introduced to Queensland State Parliament recently proposes some significant changes to Queensland’s Work Health and...

NRA Legal A new Bill introduced to Queensland State Parliament recently proposes some significant changes to Queensland’s Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (‘WHS Act)’, including a new, criminal offence for industrial manslaughter, carrying up to 20 years’ imprisonment for individuals and $12,615,000 for bodies corporate. The Bill adopts some of...

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Fair Work Inspectors conduct surprise on-site audits in Melbourne

NRA Legal Once again, the Fair Work Ombudsman (‘FWO’) has demonstrated its broad powers to conduct on-site audits, this time...

NRA Legal Once again, the Fair Work Ombudsman (‘FWO’) has demonstrated its broad powers to conduct on-site audits, this time in Melbourne’s entertainment hot spots including Carlton, Brunswick and Fitzroy North. In a reprise of similar events in Sydney’s South-West and Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley earlier this year, the FWO has sent...

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United Voice set to merge with NUW

Written by Sid Sidhu and Troy Wild, NRA Legal Employee union, United Voice, is set to merge with the National...

Written by Sid Sidhu and Troy Wild, NRA Legal Employee union, United Voice, is set to merge with the National Union of Workers (‘NUW’) following a signed Memorandum of Understanding by both organisations to explore options for a “new union model”. The unions have revealed plans to meet in November to...

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Woolworths wins appeal over hazardous grape

Written by Sid Sidhu, NRA Legal A Sydney woman, who was awarded $151,000 in compensation after slipping on a grape...

Written by Sid Sidhu, NRA Legal A Sydney woman, who was awarded $151,000 in compensation after slipping on a grape in her local Woolworths, has lost her case on appeal and been ordered to pay the supermarket’s legal costs. First Instance At first instance, Justice Maiden SC of the District Court of...

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End of contract means no dismissal? Maybe not …

By Alex Millman and Angela Szczepanski, NRA Legal Khayam v Navitas English Pty Ltd T/A Navitas English FWCFB 4092 The...

By Alex Millman and Angela Szczepanski, NRA Legal Khayam v Navitas English Pty Ltd T/A Navitas English FWCFB 4092 The Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission has granted a teacher leave to appeal against the decision dismissing his unfair dismissal application, challenging long-established precedent claiming that his employment was...

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An enterprise agreement was killed by the difference between ‘is’ and ‘was’

By Alexander Millman and Angela Szczepanski, NRA Legal  National Union of Workers v Sigma Company Limited t/a Sigma Healthcare ...

By Alexander Millman and Angela Szczepanski, NRA Legal  National Union of Workers v Sigma Company Limited t/a Sigma Healthcare FWCFB 3892 Last week, retail pharmacy group Sigma Healthcare took an industrial relations blow when the approval of its Sigma (Berrinba) Enterprise Agreement 2017 on 30 May 2017 was overturned on...

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‘Deliberately ignoring’ Ombudsman warnings results in record penalty

By Alexander Millman and Angela Szczepanski, NRA Legal  FWO v MHoney Pty Ltd & Anor FCCA 2959 In November last...

By Alexander Millman and Angela Szczepanski, NRA Legal  FWO v MHoney Pty Ltd & Anor FCCA 2959 In November last year, Judge Burchardt of the Federal Circuit Court in Melbourne found that MHoney Pty Ltd and its director, Mr Abdulrahman Taleb, had deliberately engaged in multiple serious and deliberate contraventions...

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Employment law legislation update

Written by Alex Millman Members will recall from previous news alerts that there are several pieces of legislation amending the...

Written by Alex Millman Members will recall from previous news alerts that there are several pieces of legislation amending the Fair Work Act currently waiting for the attention of the Senate before they can become law. Foremost among these is the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Vulnerable Workers) Bill 2017, which aims...

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Surveillance in the workplace (and when it goes wrong)

By Alexander Millman and Angela Szczepanski, NRA Legal  Ms Shahin Tavassoli v Bupa Aged Care Mosman A recent case reminds employers...

By Alexander Millman and Angela Szczepanski, NRA Legal  Ms Shahin Tavassoli v Bupa Aged Care Mosman A recent case reminds employers that care must be taken when relying on evidence obtained from workplace surveillance to dismiss an employee, and the need to afford employees procedural fairness even when it appears to...

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Business Interruption Insurance: Explained

by Alain Sayour,  Gow Gates Many companies make sure they have their building and contents insured for fire and accidental...

by Alain Sayour,  Gow Gates Many companies make sure they have their building and contents insured for fire and accidental damage, but what about the disruption these events can cause to the businesses’ operations? Does this sound familiar? “We can’t work at our office due to storm damage and the repairs...

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Federal Government to close superannuation legal loophole

by Angela Szczepanski and Sid Sidhu, NRA Legal The Federal Government is planning to introduce legislation in the coming months...

by Angela Szczepanski and Sid Sidhu, NRA Legal The Federal Government is planning to introduce legislation in the coming months that will address an estimated $1 billion worth of annual unpaid super. The Bill, which will amend that rules that currently allow companies to reduce their super contributions, will close...

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Dismissal of pregnant worker deemed adverse action

by Angela Szczepanski and Sid Sidhu, NRA Legal Mahajan v Burgess Rawson & Associates Pty Ltd FCCA 1560 The Federal...

by Angela Szczepanski and Sid Sidhu, NRA Legal Mahajan v Burgess Rawson & Associates Pty Ltd FCCA 1560 The Federal Circuit Court has ruled in favour of an employee after hearing that her commercial real estate employer, Burgess Rawson and Associates Pty Ltd, had dismissed the pregnant worker for taking...

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EOFY Franchisor Obligations

By Angela Szczepanski and Sid Sidhu With the new financial year in full swing, franchisors are reminded not to forget...

By Angela Szczepanski and Sid Sidhu With the new financial year in full swing, franchisors are reminded not to forget their end of year obligations under the Competition and Consumer (Industry Codes – Franchising) Regulation 2014 (‘Franchising Code’). This article focuses particularly on the obligation to update your disclosure document...

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