The SA Labor Party have vowed to crack down on employers who knowingly ‘rip off’ their workers by underpaying and exploiting them, if it wins the State election to be held on 17 March 2018. Announcing the pledge at his campaign launch, Premier Jay Weatherill stated […]

South Australia has passed the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2017, joining Queensland, which introduced its Labour Hire Licensing Act in September 2017. This follows a critical focus on the industry, led in part by a Four Corners investigation which uncovered rampant exploitation in the food production […]

The High Court has upheld (in part) Aldi’s appeal in its long running dispute with the SDA regarding the approval of an enterprise agreement[1]. The High Court has confirmed the Fair Work Commission’s decision was lawful when it approved an enterprise agreement that had been made […]

Bill Shorten has announced that a future Labor Government will legislate for ten (10) days of family violence leave, tweeting: “Proud to announce that a Labor Gov will legislate for 10 days’ family violence leave. Family violence leave should be a universal workplace right. The stress […]

In April 2017, the Federal Circuit Court found accountancy firm Ezy Accounting 123 Pty Ltd liable for its involvements in a number of contraventions of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (‘Act’) (refer our previous legal alert by clicking here). The Court has now imposed a total penalty […]

Yet again, an employer has been taken by surprise as a result of how its enterprise agreement has been drafted. A major employer, Linfox Australia, believed its National Dangerous Goods Manager on a base salary of $140,000 (plus other benefits) was not covered by its enterprise […]

Decision of the Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission The full bench of the Fair Work Commission has drafted a model ‘casual conversion’ clause for insertion into 85 modern awards to allow certain casual employees to request their employment be converted to part-time or full-time. […]

In February 2017 the Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission decided to reduce Sunday and public holiday penalty rates in the Hospitality, Fast Food, Retail, and Pharmacy Awards and public holiday penalty rates in the Restaurants Award (please refer to our February 2017 Legal Alert […]

In May 2017, the Commonwealth Government passed the Crimes Amendment (Penalty Unit) Bill 2017 increasing the ‘penalty unit’ under s 4AAA of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) from $180 to $210, to take effect on 1 July 2017. As a result, civil penalties issued against corporate […]