The right to disconnect has been in the media a lot. But if we look behind the headlines, what impact is it actually going to have?
The new laws give employees a limited right to ignore work-related contact outside of working hours. This right is limited by what is reasonable. It does not:
As we discussed in our previous blog on non-competes (as well as other types of restraint of trade), the move to add regulation has been gaining momentum since Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced in August 2023 a Competition Review to examine competition laws, policies and institutions.
Whilst the move to ban non-competes in Australia has
The last two years has seen multiple rounds of changes to employment, industrial and safety laws at federal and state level in Australia.
These represent the most significant changes since the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) was introduced. The fact that there have been so many different changes to different laws has made it tough
It seems like death by a thousand cuts. In August last year, Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced a Competition Review to examine competition laws, policies and institutions to focus on reforms that would increase productivity, reduce the cost of living and/or lift wages. Non-compete clauses would be part of this two-year process.
Since then, we’ve
Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs or confidentiality agreements) have come under fire in recent years due to concerns that they silence victims, conceal unlawful behaviour and prevent companies and regulators from understanding the full scope of systemic problems. These are all valid concerns.
However, the part that often gets overlooked when discussing the use of NDAs is
In our previous post celebrating the firm’s decade in Australia, our partners shared their insights into the most significant changes in employment and safety law that have affected leading employers. This post further explores our partners’ perspectives on the major changes and trends that they anticipate will have a major impact on Australian businesses in
In his press club speech on 31 August 2023, just days before the public release of the Closing Loopholes Bill, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations the Hon Tony Burke MP described the problem of the labour hire loophole as follows:
“But if you have an enterprise agreement in place, the labour hire loophole
So, the business needs to cut costs. It might want to outsource. Redundancies look inevitable. But you need to be sure: so here comes a high-priced management consultant.
Things are getting expensive. Everything is on the table. There’s an enterprise agreement or two driving costs. You could get maintenance cheaper elsewhere. Or how about the
The High Court of Australia’s decision in the Qantas outsourcing case[1] has been widely reported. But both the scope of the decision and the key takeaway have potentially been misunderstood.
How do you (dis)prove a negative presumption about your reasons?
The real issue in this case, as in most adverse action cases, was why
This instalment of our series on the Closing Loopholes Bill considers new measures aimed squarely at union empowerment.
The Bill mandates rights for union workplace delegates that must be included in all Modern Awards and future enterprise agreements. As a minimum, these rights will be to: