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What you need to know about the new portable long service leave for cleaning, security and community services workers in Victoria

On 4 September 2018, the Victorian Government passed the Long Service Benefits Portability Bill 2018. The Long Service Benefits Portability Act 2018 (Vic) (LSBP Act) will come into effect on 1 July 2019, unless proclaimed earlier by the Government.   Why has the legislation been introduced? The LSBP Act has been introduced to enable Victorian […]

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Keeping it casual? Think again!

You have no doubt heard about the landmark decision in WorkPac Pty Ltd v Skene[1], where the Full Court of the Federal Court (Full Court) found that a casual employee was a permanent employee entitled to annual leave payments. In this article we have summarised the decision and outlined the important practical implications for many […]

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Impact of Family and Domestic Violence Leave entitlements on Family Law cases

As part of its four yearly review of modern awards, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) has been considering submissions on the potential inclusion of family and domestic leave into those awards (see previous article here). The FWC has now determined that such leave should be provided for in awards and has finalised the model clause […]

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Casual calamity

The Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission (Commission) has decided to insert a model casual conversion clause into the majority of those modern awards which did not already have this type of clause, including awards in the retail, restaurant, banking, aged care, mining, maritime and transport industries. This change comes in response to numerous […]

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The No No Nos for end of year functions

It is the time of year when employers encourage their staff to celebrate another year’s hard work – a time to bring together employees who may rarely meet face-to-face and to reward them for their hard work. It is also unfortunately the time of year for alcohol-fuelled indiscretions, allegations of workplace bullying, sexual harassment, and […]

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Franchisors exposed for franchisee failures with passage of Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Vulnerable Workers) Act 2017

Further to our update, the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Vulnerable Workers) Act 2017 (Act) has been passed by the Australian Parliament after modification by the Senate. The Act became law on 15 September 2017. Franchisors will come under the new regime from 27 October 2017. Introduced following revelations of franchisees breaching their obligations as employers, […]

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Amendments to Fair Work Act to create new compliance issues for the franchising sector

Following a number of recent high profile cases involving franchisees breaching their obligations as employers, the Government introduced the Fair Work (Protecting Vulnerable Workers) Bill 2017. The Bill proposes amendments to the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) to: introduce increasing civil penalty provisions of up to 600 penalty units ($108,000) for individuals or 3,000 penalty […]

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Penalty rate reductions: what you need to know

In a long awaited and much publicised decision issued last week, the Fair Work Commission reduced Sunday and Public Holiday penalty rates by between 25% and 50% in a number of modern awards in the retail and hospitality sectors. A brief overview of these reductions is described below. Sunday Penalty Rates Award Type of Employee […]

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