“Hopelessly cavalier”: Fair Work Commission cracks down on discriminatory redundancies

By Calum Woods and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal The Fair Work Commission has taken aim at a family-owned retail business...

By Calum Woods and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal The Fair Work Commission has taken aim at a family-owned retail business and a financial services firm, both of whom restructured their operations after they were notified that two respective employees had fallen pregnant. In a rare consent arbitration, Compuworld was found to...

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The essential guide to redundancy during COVID-19

By Calum Woods and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal The unprecedented disruption caused by coronavirus (COVID-19) has left many employers considering...

By Calum Woods and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal The unprecedented disruption caused by coronavirus (COVID-19) has left many employers considering their immediate options to reduce expenditure over the coming weeks and months. In most cases, substantial cost-savings may be able to be achieved by consulting with employees about reducing their hours...

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Fair Work Commission proceedings: Head in the sand, or head in the game?

By Andrew Piper and Alex Millman, NRA Legal Receiving notice of any legal proceedings is enough to make the blood...

By Andrew Piper and Alex Millman, NRA Legal Receiving notice of any legal proceedings is enough to make the blood run cold of most business owners and HR professionals. For many, the process of defending such an application can be time consuming and emotionally taxing.   While much work has been done...

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The essential guide to redundancy

By Calum Woods and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal In the current economic climate, it is critical for businesses to constantly...

By Calum Woods and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal In the current economic climate, it is critical for businesses to constantly identify opportunities to improve efficiency and reduce expenditure. While the prospect of redundancies is certainly not pleasant, they are often times unavoidable. Alongside the factors that necessitate a redundancy in the...

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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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Retailers back changes to Small Business Fair Dismissal Code

The National Retail Association (NRA) has voiced its support for proposed changes to the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code...

The National Retail Association (NRA) has voiced its support for proposed changes to the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code unveiled today by the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Kate Carnell. NRA CEO Dominique Lamb said the current Code is complex, difficult to understand and highly ambiguous in parts. “Small...

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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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Domestic violence victim treated fairly despite sacking

Written by Sooraj Sidhu and Lindsay Carroll A supermarket retailer has successfully defended an unfair dismissal application despite the employee’s...

Written by Sooraj Sidhu and Lindsay Carroll A supermarket retailer has successfully defended an unfair dismissal application despite the employee’s explanation that her deteriorating behaviour and performance was due to difficulties she was encountering in her personal life. In commending the employer for taking “extraordinary lengths” to support the employee, the...

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Changes to work arrangements – who’s to blame?

Written by Calum Woods and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal In a recent application for relief from unfair dismissal, Commissioner Cribb...

Written by Calum Woods and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal In a recent application for relief from unfair dismissal, Commissioner Cribb considered circumstances where an employee requested changes to her working arrangements, and then resigned her employment when the employer was unable to accommodate those changes. The employee argued that she was...

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What is the ‘gig economy’ and how does it affect me?

By Sooraj Sidhu, NRA Legal You might have heard in recent months the term ‘gig economy’ being thrown around by...

By Sooraj Sidhu, NRA Legal You might have heard in recent months the term ‘gig economy’ being thrown around by politicians, lawyers and leaders in workplace relations. The term, which has become buzzword of the century, refers to the burgeoning number of workers engaged in short-term or temporary positions, either through...

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Out-of-hours misconduct justified dismissal

By Victoria Hansen and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has ruled that a worker who...

By Victoria Hansen and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has ruled that a worker who threw a full glass of beer over the heads of his colleagues at an official company Christmas party was justifiably dismissed. This is a significant decision regarding the dismissal of...

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Commission finds employer had no right to accept employee’s repeated resignations

By Alexander Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal Following a protracted legal battle that involved an initial hearing, an appeal...

By Alexander Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal Following a protracted legal battle that involved an initial hearing, an appeal and a re-hearing, the Fair Work Commission has held that an employer had no right to accept the repeated resignations of a distressed employee undergoing internal investigation. Bupa Aged Care Australia...

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Fixed-term employment contracts – Beware of the unfair dismissal risk

By Alex Millman and Justine Ansell, NRA Legal Khayam v Navitas English Pty Ltd FWCFB 5162 Members will recall that...

By Alex Millman and Justine Ansell, NRA Legal Khayam v Navitas English Pty Ltd FWCFB 5162 Members will recall that earlier this year the Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission foreshadowed that it would re-evaluate how the Commission approached fixed-term contracts in unfair dismissal cases, namely whether a contract...

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Lack of written warnings leads to unfair dismissal ruling

by Sid Sidhu and Troy Wild Ashley Duddington v Mario and Clara Enterprises Pty Ltd and Morgan Trading Pty Ltd...

by Sid Sidhu and Troy Wild Ashley Duddington v Mario and Clara Enterprises Pty Ltd and Morgan Trading Pty Ltd FWC 2958 Small business employers (employing less than 15 employees) are reminded by a recent case before the Fair Work Commission (FWC) to use the Small Business Dismissal Code (the...

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Significant breach of policy used to justify termination

by Sid Sidhu and Angela Szczepanski, NRA Legal Teresa Margaret Murphy v Banana Coast Community Credit Union Ltd T/A BCU...

by Sid Sidhu and Angela Szczepanski, NRA Legal Teresa Margaret Murphy v Banana Coast Community Credit Union Ltd T/A BCU FWC 2688 An employee who worked as a store supervisor for Banana Coast Community Credit Union (BCU) has had her application for relief from unfair dismissal, dismissed by the Fair...

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Unfair dismissal case actually “genuine redundancy”

by Sid Sidhu and Troy Wild, NRA legal Case study: Laura Wrzoskiewicz v Easy Payroll Perth Pty Ltd FWC...

by Sid Sidhu and Troy Wild, NRA legal Case study: Laura Wrzoskiewicz v Easy Payroll Perth Pty Ltd FWC 2469 A recent case before the Fair Work Commission highlights the meaning of “genuine redundancy” and when an employee will be unable to substantiate an unfair dismissal claim. In this case, a...

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