It’s been 20 years since the High Court of Australia revisited the question ‘how do you tell the difference between a contractor and an employee?’ On 9 February 2022 the Court handed down two judgements which answer this question: CFMMEU v Personnel Contracting; and ZG Operations Australia v Jamsek & Ors. Personnel Contracting In Personnel […]

If working from home during lockdown affords you time away from customers to focus on admin, I encourage you to check out the People at Work survey which is a free psychosocial risk assessment tool that was launched by WHS regulators this year @ peopleatwork.gov.au. The survey tool is only appropriate for employers of 20 […]

Most of the government’s industrial relations reform agenda didn’t get through Parliament in March.  But the provisions of the Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Act 2021 relating to casual workers did.  Amendments to the Fair Work Act that affect the way we engage casual workers in Australia became law on 27 […]

With COVID-19 vaccines due to be rolled out next month, what should business owners do when the inevitable happens, and some Australians elect not to receive the jab? Bodily integrity is a basic human right. We all understand that applying force to a person without their consent is against the law. We can’t literally force […]

Sadly, many Australian businesses now have experience in standing down staff as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.  But stand down rules have changed over the course of the pandemic.  We now find ourselves falling into one of three categories of employer: Businesses that never qualified for JobKeeper; Businesses that still qualify for JobKeeper; and […]

The 7-Eleven scandal, which involved unlawful conduct by franchisees such as requiring employees to pay back a significant amount of their wages and falsely recording data, sparked a thorough investigation by the Fair Work Ombudsman. Following the release of the Ombudsman’s report, the Australian government announced its policy to protect vulnerable workers in light of […]