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Fair Work Commission confirms employers must consult with employees before deciding to make them redundant
A recent decision of the Fair Work Commission, Mr Peter Gourdeas v Heyday 5 Pty Ltd[1] has confirmed that an employer must consult with ‘affected employees’ as required by an enterprise agreement or award that is binding on the employees and employer. Under the Electrical, Electronic and Communications Contracting Award 2020 (the Electrical Contracting Award) and most enterprise agreements, consultation with an affected employee must take place before a final decision is made. An affected employee is one who may be significantly affected (which includes being made redundant) because [...]
Changes to Overtime Calculations for Casual Employees affective from 20 November, 2020
From 20 November 2020, employers are now required to apply the compounding approach when calculating the pay of their casual employees who work overtime. This means that the employee is required to pay time and a half, double time and double time and a half on the rate that is inclusive of the casual loading. Overview of Casual Employees and Casual Loading A casual employee is one that has no guaranteed hours of work, does not receive paid leave such as annual leave, personal/carer’s leave and long service leave, works [...]
A guide on managing bullying and harassment in the workplace
The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (Act) states that a worker is bullied if an individual or group of individuals “repeatedly behaves unreasonably towards the worker or a group of workers of which the worker is a member” while the worker is at work and the “behaviour creates a risk to health and safety”. The Act enables a “worker” (which includes an employee or contractor) who reasonably believes that he or she has been bullied at work to apply to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) for an order that the [...]
Extension of Schedule I under the Clerks – Private Sector Award 2020
On 30 September, the Fair Work Commission extended the operation of Schedule I in the Clerks Private Sector Award until 30 November 2020. Schedule I contains various provisions aimed at preserving the business viability during the COVID-19 pandemic. For administrative employees covered by this Award, subject to meeting all of the requirements in Schedule I, these provisions allow employers to: 1. Change the ordinary hours of work for employees working from home Where employees are working from home by agreement, the ordinary hours can be worked between 6.00 am [...]
Fair Work Flexibilities – Legacy Employers
The Covid-19 pandemic has had drastic impacts on the Australian economy. The Australian Federal Government has implemented schemes such as JobKeeper in response to preserve the employer-employee relationship and keep businesses and employees in work. The second phase of the JobKeeper scheme begins from 28 September 2020. It allows legacy employers who were previously qualified to receive JobKeeper 1.0 to continue to issue JobKeeper-enabling directions to eligible employees. Such a scheme has been put in place to assist employers who will not re-qualify for JobKeeper 2.0 from 28 September [...]
Amendments to the Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 (Qld)
Several key amendments to the Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 (Qld) (‘Act’) have been released by the Queensland Government that will impact on NECA members in QLD. A number of changes will come into operation on 1 October 2020 concerning new offences that are now subject to penalties, supporting statements for payment claims and payment of adjudicated amounts and payment withholding requests. Supporting Statements for Payment Claims Head Contractors who engage subcontractors will now be required under the Act to lodge a supporting statement from 1 [...]
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