All publications relating to ‘Employment’
Trust me — I’m your employer
Coming into this season, we tend to reflect on the year that was and what matters most in our lives. For many of us, this will be nurturing healthy relationships. Relationships founded on trust. This year, I have made it my business to seek out and spend time with people who have…
Do we have to do what we are paid to do?
In Oliver Stone’s film Platoon, we see the experience of a young recruit in Vietnam. His sergeant reinforces his intolerance for any deviation from the command and control management system at the core of the military in a conflict zone thus: “Now, I got no fight with any man who does what he’s told…
The Hunger Games have arrived: HR are now the hunted!
One of the purposes of someone forming a company is to enable an enterprise to trade to the extent of the resources of the company. The intention of this structure is to allow people to start an enterprise — be innovative — and if it doesn’t work, to be able to…
Minimising employer redundancy obligations
A provision exists in the Fair Work Act, which enables employers to apply to the Fair Work Commission to minimise their statutory redundancy obligations to staff whom they retrench. The basis for such an application (which is made under s. 120 of the Act) is that the employer has found…
Employment law changes from 1 July 2016
In Brief It is a constant challenge for employers to remain up date with changes in the dynamic environment of employment law. This article looks at a number of important changes in this area which came into effect on 1 July 2016.As well as increases to minimum wages and the “high income threshold”…
The complexity of employment law in Australia has no future in the ‘future’
When we engage staff now we do so in an environment where uncertainty and diminishing employment security is the new norm for all. This reflects the greater competition facing businesses both from technology and the globalised environment. Yet it is interesting how so many people believe that staff can be…
The perils of misleading your prospective employees
INTRODUCTIONThere are few court decisions which deal with damages claims by employees lured into new employment by prospective employers’ assurances, and who suffer loss when things do not go according to plan. However a decision of the Federal Court of Australia handed down in April 2016 in Rakic v Johns Lyng Insurance Building…
Proceedings under the Fair Work Act Is the Fair Work Commission really a cost free jurisdiction?
Common questions asked by parties in unfair dismissal claims are “will I get my costs back if I win?” and “will I have to pay the other side’s costs if I lose?” The default position is “no”. Under the Fair Work Act (the Act) each party usually pays its own legal costs in unfair…
The future and HR — the other side of the worm-hole
Recently, we hosted a seminar on the Future of HR and heard from two experts in the field about their experience and thoughts on the rapidly transforming workplace and their predictions for the future. That night we slipped trhough the worm-hole to reveal what a thriving HR professional will look like in the…
The deceit of the policy manual
“Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them… well, I have others.” — Groucho Marx As an HR professional, you value your integrity, right? Without that, your credibility with staff disappears. A core aspect of integrity is honesty — if your word cannot be relied upon, then you lose the trust…