The By Lawyers Employment Law publication has been reviewed by our author, experienced solicitor Brad Petley, an accredited specialist in workplace relations, so you can be confident our content is up to date.
Important employment law updates and enhancements have been made to the commentary, including:
Offsetting rules for casual loading payments
The WorkPac Pty Ltd v Skene [2018] FCAFC 131 decision concerning casual loading led to the Commonwealth government amending the Fair Work Regulations. Regulation 2.03A of the Fair Work Regulations 2009 (Cth) provides that, in certain circumstances, employers may offset an employee’s casual loading payments against the employee’s entitlements under the National Employment Standards (NES).
Casual conversion
Casual conversion generally refers to the right of an employee who has been employed on a regular and systematic basis for a period of 6 months or 12 months, depending on the modern award that applies, to convert their employment from a casual basis to permanent full time or part time. This right is not currently in all modern awards and therefore does not apply to all casual workers. That position may change after the federal election, so By Lawyers will continue to monitor the position and update the commentary again if required.
Flexible working arrangements
All modern awards include a model term that facilitates flexible working arrangements. The model term imposes additional obligations on employers, in addition to those in the NES, in relation to managing and responding to flexible working requests.
Annual leave
Under the NES, annual leave is calculated at the employee’s base rate of pay for their ordinary hours of work. Unless an applicable award, enterprise agreement or contract of employment provides otherwise, annual leave does not include any overtime rates, penalties or other allowances that an employee would have been paid if they had worked during that period.
Unpaid family and domestic violence leave
All full-time, part-time and casual employees are entitled to five days unpaid family and domestic violence leave. This applies for each 12-month period of service. The leave does not accumulate. The notice and evidence requirements of s 107 of the Fair Work Act 2009 apply. The commentary discusses these requirements.
Workplace bullying
Reasonable management action carried out in a reasonable manner is not considered workplace bullying. The commentary provides a relevant link to s 789FD(2) of the Fair Work Act.
Modern slavery laws
Modern slavery describes human trafficking, slavery and slavery-like practices, like forced labour and forced marriage.
The Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) requires Australian entities and foreign entities carrying on business within Australia with consolidated revenue of $100M, to submit Modern Slavery Statements every 12 months. This needs to include an entity’s structure, operations and supply chains as well as the potential modern slavery risks, plus actions taken to address those risks including due diligence and remediation processes.
By Lawyers keeps you up to date
Because we are committed to keeping our content up to date, employment law updates are provided at least annually and whenever there are significant developments in the area. Our authors and editorial team constantly monitor all of our publications.
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