By Alex Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal Written contracts are a staple of legal relationships, including the employment relationship. They are not without their problems – long, complicated, wordy, incomprehensible, full of legalese … as lawyers, we have heard all of these complaints. To combat this, engineering and infrastructure consultancy Aurecon have introduced the […]
By Alex Millman and Justine Ansell, NRA Legal Khayam v Navitas English Pty Ltd [2017] FWCFB 5162 Members will recall that earlier this year the Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission foreshadowed that it would re-evaluate how the Commission approached fixed-term contracts in unfair dismissal cases, namely whether a contract ‘expiring’ meant that the […]
By Alex Millman, Sid Sidhu and Troy Wild, NRA Legal Restructuring a business often involves making employees redundant. This is an unfortunate but logical truth. There is a natural tension between the freedom for businesses to be able to structure their operations in the most effective manner possible, and the need for workers to have […]
By Alex Millman and Angela Szczepanski, NRA Legal Khayam v Navitas English Pty Ltd T/A Navitas English [2017] FWCFB 4092 The Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission has granted a teacher leave to appeal against the decision dismissing his unfair dismissal application, challenging long-established precedent claiming that his employment was not truly brought to […]
by Angela Szczepanski, Senior Associate, NRA Legal Dismissing an employee can be stressful and is often quoted as the ‘worst part of running a business’. As well as the emotional context, it can be a long and timely process to ensure due process is followed. In particular, special care needs to be taken to minimise […]
Whether you’re just starting out, or experiencing changes in your workforce, the new year is a great time to check if your employment contracts are not only compliant, but effective for your business. Effective employment contracts should: protect your business meet your employer obligations clearly define employment terms and conditions, and help manage issues should they […]
In a recent case brought before the NSW Supreme Court DP World’s (DPW) six-month restraint of trade period on their Operations Manager was deemed to be reasonable when the former employee gave three-months’ notice before beginning employment with a competitor. On April 27, DPW’s Operations Manager accepted a position with their direct competitor, Asciano. DPW […]
A new law recently passed by the Federal Government will protect small businesses from unfair contact terms in standard form contracts. The new law will will come into force on 12 November 2016 following a 12 month transition period. A small business is defined as employing less than 20 people, including casual employees employed on […]