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The National Employment Standards state that an employer must not request or require a full-time employee to work more than 38 hours per week unless the additional hours are reasonable. Despite many employees regularly working more than 38 hours per week, there is little case law testing when additional hours are considered to be “reasonable”. Background In a recent case[1]…

Vaccination Requirements-Legal Update With the COVID pandemic still with us, we thought we would provide an update on legal challenges to the power of employers to introduce mandatory vaccinations. A number of claimants have sought to rely on the minority dissent of Fair Work Commission Deputy President Lyndall Dean in a FWC case 2021, to say that vaccination mandates are…

The matter involved an application by 3 employees of a Melbourne Catholic School to the Fair Work Commission to hear a dispute about the COVID vaccination mandates under the dispute resolution clause in the enterprise agreement. The employees made an application under the Fair Work Act, which allows the Fair Work Commission to deal with disputes if they fall within…

Earlier this year, the High Court published its decision in the Personnel Contracting case[1] setting out the principles around the primacy of a lawful written contract in determining the nature of an employment relationship. The High Court decision means that parties can rely on a written contract that clearly identifies the nature of the working relationship, and the parties’ mutual…