The line between lawful and unlawful unpaid work is not always clear.
Many companies are contacted by people offering to work on a voluntary basis. It is often pitched as a “win-win” because the person is willing to work for free in exchange for experience and contacts, particularly in high demand industries such as sports,
When an ex-employee goes to a competitor or starts poaching clients or staff, employers often look to a restraint of trade clause to protect key business assets such as client relationships or company confidential information.
Often a quick decision needs to be made: apply to the Court to stop the ex-employee, or wait and sue
Lots has been said recently in the press about enterprise agreement making and the approval process by the Fair Work Commission (FWC). In short, the numbers of agreements being made is down and approval times are “long”. The graph below, recently cited in an AFR article, demonstrates a possible link between approval times slowing and
An enforceable restraint of trade can be a key business asset, giving an employer time to recover when a senior employee has left the business for a competitor. Like a good insurance policy, it’s a big relief to have it when you need it.
Australian law regarding restraints of trade has its history in
In a previous blog, we’ve mentioned the decline of enterprise bargaining in Australia.
Some data to support this follows in this blog. Both agreement numbers and employees covered by in-term agreements are in decline. Point 7 and 8 highlight the challenges faced by parties making agreements and the Fair Work Commission in processing agreement
So what’s the outlook for enterprise bargaining in Australia? Here’s the top 7:
The genesis of enterprise bargaining in the mid 1990’s lay in its potential to generate productivity gains at a time when workplaces were strangled by terms and conditions set for whole industries and occupations, divorced from the particular
“It has become increasingly difficult to make
The