Over and above – attracting and retaining quality employees

keeping employees

By Calum Woods and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal Last week, Westpac’s workforce voted overwhelmingly in favour of a ground-breaking new enterprise agreement. The agreement, which was supported by the Finance Sector Union, contains a novel entitlement for transgender employees undergoing gender transition to access up to four weeks’ of paid leave per year. It also […]

Family and domestic violence leave introduced into modern awards

domestic violence leave

From 1 August 2018, modern awards were varied to include the family and domestic violence leave. This means that employees covered by a modern award are entitled to take five days’ unpaid leave if they are affected by family or domestic violence. The changes do not extend to employees covered by an enterprise agreement (unless […]

Domestic Violence Leave set to arrive on 1 August 2018

domestic violence leave

On Friday 6 June 2018 the Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission, in a decision published that afternoon, advised that it intended that Domestic Violence Leave would commence through the modern award system on 1 August 2018. Background This decision finalises a process which saw the Fair Work Commission reject the ACTU’s claim for […]

Message from the CEO: 10 October 2016

Dominique Lamb CEO National Retail Association

As you know, the NRA speaks up on a range of issues that affect not only members and other retailers, but also their employees and the entire retail sector. And while we’ve had a lot of success in recent years bringing major issues to the attention of government, sometimes you do question whether anyone is […]

Take the lead in addressing domestic violence in your workplace

A recent study conducted in Canada has identified that one in three workers had experienced domestic violence (DV) at some point in their life. Despite these statistics there was minimal evidence found of employers understanding and taking action to assist victims of DV. The purpose of the study was to examine: The awareness of co-worker […]

Unfair Domestic Violence Dismissal – Courts reject employer’s appeal

In a recent application for judicial review, the Federal Circuit Court of Australia dismissed Eliana Construction and Developing Group Pty Ltd.’s application stating that they had no basis for unfairly dismissing an employee who had suffered domestic violence by her partner, who was also employed at the same company. The company’s reason for dismissing the […]

Myer supporting domestic violence victims

Starting over, for survivors of domestic violence, is difficult in more ways than one. Getting back on their feet takes an emotional, physical and financial toll. Myer has launched a new initiative with the help of The Salvation Army, ‘The Give Registry’ to help ease the financial pressures and support women to rebuild their lives […]

CEO’s sleepout for a good cause

On any given night 1 in 200 people in Australia are homeless with over 105,000 people without permanent accommodation each year. From those, 2 out of 3 people who look for crisis housing are turned away due to a lack of vacancies. The road to homelessness is different for each individual. Women make up 44% […]

Dancing CEO’s in the fight against domestic violence

Last Friday night saw Brisbane’s leading CEOs swap the boardroom for the City Hall dance floor to raise funds for Dancing CEO’s, an annual gala event to support Women’s Legal Service and the prevention of domestic violence. The National Retail Association (NRA) was proud to be an event sponsor of Dancing CEOs and support Women’s […]

CEOs to swap their suits for sequins

To help raise money for the prevention of domestic violence, 12 brave CEO’s will swap their suits for sequins on April 15 in a hotly contested dance-off at Brisbane City Hall. A limited number of balcony tickets are still available, with all-night access to the main auditorium, a two course meal, 5 hour drinks package […]

Message from the CEO: 4 March 2016

The retail trade figures for January, released today, showed a steady start to the year with an increase in turnover 0.3 per cent for the month, seasonally adjusted, and a 4.0 increase compared with January last year. This steady, if not spectacular, growth is welcome as we see consumer sentiment stabilising and spending patterns becoming […]

Inside Retail – Deterring Domestic Violence

In Australia, one in four women has experienced violence from an intimate partner, whilst one woman is killed by her male partner every five or six days. The retail industry has one of the largest female workforces in Australia, and is also one of the most gendered industries with almost 60% of employees being female. […]