All publications relating to ‘Richard Ottley’
Redundancy — Defending Claims for Unfair Dismissal
Circumstances will sometimes arise in a business where an employer needs to shed staff. The business may be subject to a takeover or amalgamation, or its revenue may contract, for example where the market paradigm changes or perhaps as a result of losing key clients. It is in circumstances such as these, that an…
Can you stand down your employees?
A common question for employers is whether and in what circumstances can they stand down an employee. At common law there is no general right to stand down or suspend an employee without pay absent an express contractual term (see discussion of cases at [65] to [73] of Coal & Allied Mining…
Reasonable notice on termination of employment has it a future?
Introduction Termination of a contract of employment upon reasonable notice has long been regarded as part of the employment law landscape. It bridges the gap where the parties to the employment relationship have failed to specify in the contract of employment, the period of notice necessary to end the relationship without…
Calculating redundancy payments does prior service as a casual count?
Australian law has for a long time recognised the concept of “casual” employment. It is generally understood that casual employees are engaged on an “as needed” basis. There is no obligation on the employer to offer a casual work and, equally, there is no obligation on the employee to accept work when offered…
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 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…
Can you still set off an employee’s salary against Award entitlements? It’s complicated!
In brief In the area of set offs in employment law, a word of warning to cut through some of the complexity. You won’t necessarily achieve the objective of being able to satisfy award obligations, unless you go about it in the correct fashion. We get technical about the mechanism by which…
Redundancy — can an employer avoid payouts by getting their employees another job?
The Fair Work Act (the Act) contains a provision (s 120) which says that if an employer “obtains other acceptable employment” for an employee it is making redundant, it may get redundancy payments reduced. In particular, on application to the Fair Work Commission it may obtain an order reducing the redundancy…