Guilty as charged: when considering a criminal record might amount to discrimination

By Alex Millman and Lucy Coogan, NRA Legal The Federal Government has offered employers some clarity around recruiting applicants with...

By Alex Millman and Lucy Coogan, NRA Legal The Federal Government has offered employers some clarity around recruiting applicants with criminal records, after the Australian Human Rights Commission (‘AHRC’) found that Suncorp discriminated against a job applicant with a record. The Australian Human Rights Commission Regulations 2019 (‘the new regulations’) ,...

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‘TikTok’ in the Workplace – A Ticking Time Bomb?

By Thomas Parer and Zoe Brodie, NRA Legal Televisions have become flatter, we’ve moved from typewriters to laptops, and...

By Thomas Parer and Zoe Brodie, NRA Legal Televisions have become flatter, we’ve moved from typewriters to laptops, and now mobile phones have become our everything-in-one device which dominates communication and even some people’s lives. A number of apps and online platforms have emerged to facilitate a purely digital...

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Start the clock on dismissal claims

By Zoe Brodie and Calum Woods, NRA Legal Whether it’s a quarrelsome employee, a serial underperformer, or a casualty of...

By Zoe Brodie and Calum Woods, NRA Legal Whether it’s a quarrelsome employee, a serial underperformer, or a casualty of automation, the stress of dismissing an employee doesn’t end on their last day of employment. It’s not until 3 weeks (or 21 days) later, when the time limit to file a...

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Message from the CEO: 24 September 2019

With retail continuing to undergo a period of slow sales and low consumer confidence, one of the biggest challenges...

With retail continuing to undergo a period of slow sales and low consumer confidence, one of the biggest challenges is keeping you and your staff motivated. Owning your own business can be a gruelling experience at the best of times and this is only compounded when economic conditions are sluggish....

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Redundancy: A question of intent

Redundancy: A question of intent By Alex Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal The concept of redundancy is a reasonably straightforward...

Redundancy: A question of intent By Alex Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal The concept of redundancy is a reasonably straightforward one – the employer no longer requires the particular job occupied by an individual to be done by anyone. Case closed. The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) modifies this...

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Mental health and discrimination

De-mystifying discrimination and mental health  By Thomas Parer and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal The last major study into mental health in Australia...

De-mystifying discrimination and mental health  By Thomas Parer and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal The last major study into mental health in Australia by the Australian Bureau of Statistics confirmed that 15% of Australians had experienced an affective disorder like depression, while 26.3% have experienced an anxiety disorder. The increasing awareness of mental health...

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HR Game Changer!

If you are a human resources (HR) professional, manager or business owner than you cannot miss the NRA’s HR...

If you are a human resources (HR) professional, manager or business owner than you cannot miss the NRA’s HR Academy conference to be held on Tuesday, 3 September 2019. HR Academy is a one-day event, gathering together leaders from business, government, industry associations, top tier professional services firms, and cutting-edge tech...

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Ombudsman successful in significantly increasing directors’ penalties

By Lucy Harper and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal In the current enforcement climate, it is valuable to note a recent...

By Lucy Harper and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal In the current enforcement climate, it is valuable to note a recent case in which the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) was successful in obtaining an increase of fines on appeal to almost five times the initial order, for an underpaying company director. In...

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Defective workplace investigations

Fair Work Commission losing patience over defective workplace investigations By Lucy Harper and Calum Woods, NRA Legal Please note, this decision...

Fair Work Commission losing patience over defective workplace investigations By Lucy Harper and Calum Woods, NRA Legal Please note, this decision was quashed by the Full Bench of the Commission on 11 November 2019. The Full Bench found that the Commissioner did not take into account Ms Murphy’s history of domestic...

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Drinks after work: from legless to jobless

When getting legless can lead to being jobless: lessons learned from after-work drinks By Thomas Parer and Lindsay Carroll, NRA...

When getting legless can lead to being jobless: lessons learned from after-work drinks By Thomas Parer and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal Employers and employees are starting to realise that grabbing some casual drinks after work could leave them with bigger consequences than just a hangover. In the recent decision, the Full...

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Workplace bullying costs business

By Calum Woods and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal Since its introduction in 2013, the Fair Work Commission’s anti-bullying jurisdiction has...

By Calum Woods and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal Since its introduction in 2013, the Fair Work Commission’s anti-bullying jurisdiction has attracted its fair share of commentary. Of the 700 anti-bullying applications filed last year, a total of 53 proceeded to a formal hearing, and of those only 8 resulted in an...

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Whistleblower protections extended from 1 July

By Alex Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal From 1 July 2019, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Enhancing Whistleblower Protections) Act...

By Alex Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal From 1 July 2019, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Enhancing Whistleblower Protections) Act 2018 came into effect. A response in part to the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, this Act amends several key items of legislation to...

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The Israel Folau Saga

By Calum Woods and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal It has been heralded as the test case on where to draw...

By Calum Woods and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal It has been heralded as the test case on where to draw the line on the freedom to practise religion, and how much say an employer has in their employees’ personal lives. Regardless of where you stand in the debate, there is no...

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Writing’s on the wall for outdated employment contracts

By Calum Woods and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal Playing musical chairs with an employment contract can be risky business. This usually...

By Calum Woods and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal Playing musical chairs with an employment contract can be risky business. This usually happens when an employee doesn’t return a signed contract when starting a new job, and their employer allows them to work regardless. Other times an employee will change into a...

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Fair Work Ombudsman concludes investigation into Uber and discontinues Foodora prosecution

By Thomas Parer and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal Following a spate of recent announcements by the Fair Work Ombudsman, it...

By Thomas Parer and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal Following a spate of recent announcements by the Fair Work Ombudsman, it seems the employment status of workers in the gig economy will continue to avoid the judicial scrutiny that many had sought. On Friday 7 June 2019, the Fair Work Ombudsman announced...

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The new super-union: United Voice and National Union of Workers head closer to amalgamation

By Alex Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal In what may be indicative of a growing trend in the trade...

By Alex Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal In what may be indicative of a growing trend in the trade union movement, Australia’s largest blue-collar unions outside the CFMMEU – United Voice and the National Union of Workers – are progressing their plans to amalgamate and form the fourth-largest union...

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