What is Unpaid Parental Leave?
Unpaid parental leave is an important area of employment law that is regularly overlooked by employers. We often find that employers have not turned their minds to the management of unpaid parental leave, until it is too late and a workplace dispute has arisen. This article aims to bring all employers up to speed on the essential ‘must knows’ of unpaid parental leave. Let’s start at...
How to manage risk at a Work Christmas party
The silly season is well and truly upon us! For many, this means blowing off steam at the annual work Christmas party. While this is often the highlight of the long work year, a degree of care must be exercised when organising and hosting such a party. From a legal point of view, the Christmas party is generally accepted as an extension of the workplace itself. To help you ensure a...
Employment Law: Casual Conversion from 1 October 2018
What happened? On 1 October 2018, a significant change to the majority of modern awards came into effect. This change, referred to as ‘casual conversion’, affects most employers across Australia, including those operating in the hospitality and retail industries. In short, casual conversion provides a pathway to casual employees, who, if certain criteria are met, may be entitled to...
Common misconceptions about Wills
Do I need a Will? This is one of the most common questions asked by our clients (other than “will I win?”). Generally speaking, we find that people are evenly split on this issue, with half thinking a Will is a good idea, and the other half not. For those who consider a Will to be unnecessary, such perception is usually based on assumptions that only wealthy people need a Will, or that...
How to avoid an unfair dismissal claim
Do you operate or manage a business? Are you considering terminating an employee because they are causing you grief by always arriving late, or just not competing their work to the high standard you require? Be careful about an Unfair Dismissal Claim. Then, you should exercise a high degree of care if you do choose to terminate that employee. Otherwise you may run a serious risk of being...