10 National COVID-19 safe workplace principles announced The National Cabinet has agreed to 10 ‘National COVID-19 safe workplace principles’ to underpin the development of further work health and safety (WHS) guidance on COVID-19. Safe Work Australia (SWA) will develop and endorse the guidance to help employers […]
The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has yesterday issued advice requiring employers to adopt a “one in, all in” approach in respect of the JobKeeper scheme. This means that employers must nominate all employees (i.e. not just a select few), although employees can choose not to participate […]
On 8 April 2020, the Fair Work Commission (Commission) made temporary changes to 99 modern awards via the insertion of a new Schedule, which provides employees with: an entitlement to take unpaid ‘pandemic leave’; and the ability to take annual leave at half pay. These changes […]
On 8 April 2020, the Coronavirus Economic Response Package Omnibus (Measures No.2) Bill 2020 passed both Houses of Parliament, temporarily inserting Part 6-4C into the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (Act). This Bill is awaiting Royal Assent. Fortnightly payment As addressed in our 7 April 2020 Legal Alert, under the […]
Yesterday, Christian Porter MP disclosed further details of the Government’s ‘JobKeeper’ legislation, which will amend the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) to enable qualifying employers to: Implement “JobKeeper enabling stand downs”, allowing employers to alter hours worked by employees while applying the Act’s existing ‘useful employment […]
We are aware that there is inconsistent advice circulating as to whether permanent employees lawfully stood down under the stand down provisions in Part 3 – 5 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Act) are entitled to be paid for public holidays that occur within the […]
A recent decision of the Fair Work Commission (Commission) in Australian Municipal, Administrative, Clerical and Services Union v Auscript Australasia Pty Ltd highlights the importance of employers complying with mandatory consultation obligations in respect of COVID-19 related redundancies. Summary In January 2020, Auscript determined to close or partially […]
Federal Parliament is likely to pass the $130 billion JobKeeper wage subsidy tomorrow in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic after the ACTU and the Labor Party indicated they would support the changes. While the full details of the legislative changes are yet to be released, the […]
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has expressed the view that it will introduce two (2) weeks’ unpaid “pandemic leave” in all modern awards in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The FWC is also proposing to allow employers and award-covered employees to agree to take up to […]
The Fair Work Commission’s changes to the annualised wages arrangements in numerous modern awards come into effect on 1 March 2020. Employers with employees covered by the modern awards listed below should review their engagement of those paid annualised salaries to ensure compliance with the changes: […]
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