April 27, 2015
In a recent OHS matter, a firm pleaded guilty to failing to notify WorkSafe of a serious head injury sustained by an employee in a stock room and for failing to maintain & preserve the incident site for when the inspector arrived. Under health and safety legislation what is critical for you as an Employer to note is; you are required to […]
March 10, 2015
We have previously spoken about the need to conduct workplace risk assessments as a means of identifying risks within the workplace and then utilizing the hierarchy of controls to mitigate and hopefully eliminate those risks. The reason for the refresher is a recent case which demonstrates as an employer action can & will be taken […]
January 16, 2015
As you welcome back your employee’s from the Christmas break it is important to keep in mind that when your workers return to work safety may not be at the forefront of their mind. This is because we have naturally relaxed and not been in work mode, so we are likely to have level of […]
January 9, 2015
A recent decision has found Woolworths discriminated against online job applicants by requiring them to provide their gender, date of birth and proof of their right to work. The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal said the requirement to provide the information breached the state’s Anti-Discrimination Act, and that Woolworths could not rely on a defense […]
October 20, 2014
The term “adverse action” is becoming much more common in regards to workplace rights. The simple definition of it is if and employer takes action against an employee for exercising a workplace right or proposing to express that workplace right. A prime example of this is where a company took unlawful adverse action when it stopped giving shifts to […]
August 28, 2014
The below excerpt is from Fair Work Ombudsman’s website. It is critical reading related to the employment of interns: A Melbourne business operator faces court action following a Fair Work Ombudsman investigation into unpaid internships at her former marketing company. Naomi-Jayne Aldred owned and operated Nexus Coaching Group Pty Ltd before the business went into […]
August 25, 2014
A company was justified in dismissing an employee for falsifying a safety document, despite the fact that he was instructed to do so by a company OHS advisor, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) has found. FWC accepted that the dismissed worker initially altered a required pre-duty safety document on the instructions of a safety advisor. […]
August 25, 2014
Logistics Company Expeditors International terminated the contract of an employee who had been with them for 24 years. The employee was 49 years old when they were dismissed and had an accounting team of more than 12 people reporting to them. The employee claimed Expeditors International breached the employment contract by failing to give reasonable […]
August 25, 2014
The release of recent ABS data has shown that private sector pay growth has remained at a record low for the year to June, again outstripped by inflation. The bureau’s Wage Price Index shows private sector hourly rates of pay (excluding bonuses) grew by just 2.5% in the year to the June quarter. In trend […]
August 25, 2014
A truck driver sacked for urinating outside the entrance to a warehouse will receive around $14,000 in compensation after the Fair Work Commission ruled his employer’s handling of the investigation rendered his dismissal unfair. The company dismissed the driver after viewing CCTV footage of him relieving himself at the distribution centre gate rather than waiting […]