Pre-election 07: Where Australia’s major political parties stand on IR issues
We review the Coalition and Labor policies on IR issues – click here to download: Blandslaw – Election IR policies
Read more »Your company’s policies and procedures may be legally binding – Sep 2007
A recent decision in the Federal Court highlights the importance of the content of company policy documents provided to employees and the need to ensure compliance with the processes and standards set out in such policy documents. We recommend you carefully consider whether the terms of any policies or procedures that provide benefits to employees, …
Read more »Out with spam, August 2007
What is spam? Spam is the term commonly used to describe electronic ‘junk mail’ or unwanted messages sent to a person’s email account or mobile phone. Legislation relating to spam came into effect on 10 April 2004. The Spam Act, 2003 (Cth) makes it illegal to send, or cause to be sent, ‘unsolicited commercial electronic …
Read more »Workplace Relations Fact Sheet and the Fairness Test July 2007
On 4 July 2007, the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, The Hon. Joe Hockey MP, released the Workplace Relations Fact Sheet following the introduction of the Fairness Test under the Workplace Relations Amendment (A Stronger Safety Net) Act, 2007 on 28 June 2007. The Fact Sheet contains information on employee entitlements, including the Australian …
Read more »Changes to Employee Superannuation Benefit Calculations June 2007
What are the new changes? The superannuation guarantee legislation has been amended to simplify an employees’ earnings base for the purpose of calculating the superannuation guarantee. From 1 July 2008, all employers must use “ordinary time earnings” to calculate their superannuation contributions provided for the benefit of their employees. These amendments will standardise the earnings …
Read more »Changes to WorkPlace Agreements Effective 7th May 2007
The Federal Government announced on Friday some significant changes to the WorkChoices legislation. A brief summary of the changes are An introduction of a “fairness test” for award based employees that earn less that $75 000 per year In the case of a collective agreement, the fairness test will automatically apply to industries that are …
Read more »Overview of Labor policy on Industrial Relations April 2007
The Labor Party has released some significant detail of the policy it intends to take to the Federal Elections this year. The following is a brief analysis of the main points with some comparison to the current WorkChoices legislation: 1. Federal System Policy Labor will keep the Federal System for private business and will encourage …
Read more »WorkChoices Record Keeping Requirements March 2007
REMINDER: WorkChoices record keeping requirements take effect 27 March 2007 The new record keeping requirements for employers come into effect on 27th March 2007. Employers will need to ensure that compliant records are kept relating to: Employer and Employee details Hours worked Pay records Leave Superannuation Employers may be subject to inspections from the Office …
Read more »Do you have an adequate disciplinary policy? Feb 2007
An employer who suspended an employee without pay over sexual harassment allegations has been ordered to pay the employee $20 000 for a failure to provide details of the complaints made against him. In short the employer had taken immediate steps to suspend the employee once allegations of sexual misconduct had arisen. The employee had …
Read more »Amendments to Industrial Relations Laws December 2006
Amendments to Industrial Relations Laws On the 4th December 2006 Parliament passed legislation which further amends the Industrial Relations Laws. The following is a summary of the main points – click to read: IndustrialRelationsLaws8Dec2006
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