Employment Law
Casuals converting to permanent employment – can it be done?

The Fair Work Commission reviews modern awards every 4 years to make sure the awards continue to provide a fair and minimum safety net to employees. In the most recent review, the Fair Work Commission decided that all awards should provide a right for casual employees to convert to part-time or full-time permanent employment in […]
Unfair Dismissal is no child’s play

At Kirralee Kindergarten, a teacher was dismissed after children escaped from the kindergarten. The teacher made an unfair dismissal application and the Fair Work Commission found that the dismissal was unfair. Background Three days prior to the dismissal, two young children escaped from the kindergarten without detection and walked down the street to a nearby […]
Implementing Redundancy Schemes

In the recent case of CFMEU v Port Kembla Coal Terminal Ltd (No 2) [2015] FCA 1088, the Federal Court reiterated the importance of adhering to procedural fairness and both statutory and contractual compliance in the implementation of redundancy schemes. In this case, Port Kembla Coal Terminal (PKCT) was accused of abolishing a Long Term […]
Potential Changes to Paid Parental Leave

The Fairer Paid Parental Leave Bill 2015 (“the Bill”) proposes critical changes to the current Paid Parental Leave Scheme. These changes could have a significant impact on both employers and employees who utilise the current scheme. What is the current scheme? The current Paid Parental Leave Scheme offers employees who take leave for parental duties, […]
Resignation or unfair dismissal?

Almost every employer can speak about the experience of employing a person whose ultimate resignation came as a relief. Relief at not having to go through the ugly process of terminating someone’s employment and possibly having to defend an unfair dismissal claim. But not every resignation is a successful bar to an unfair dismissal claim. […]
High Court finds that there is no implied term of mutual trust and confidence

This week, the High Court held that there is no common law term of mutual trust and confidence implied into Australian employment contracts. In Commonwealth Bank v Barker, the five members of the High Court found that it was wrong to conclude that the implied term of mutual trust and confidence had become part of […]