Workplace & Employee Relations Articles

Sacking an employee is one of the most challenging HR tasks any manager undertakes. With all the changes to communications styles, with a greater reliance on text, Facebook Messenger, Yammer or WhatsApp as forms of team communication, can they be used to communicate...

Many businesses choose to pay their employees annualised wages.  Annualised wages are wages that are calculated by projecting wage rates, penalty payments, overtime, annual leave loading and allowances outlined in an award or industrial agreement to an annual basis...

In the past, employers used to report payroll activity to the ATO on an annual basis. The ATO has introduced what is called “Single Touch Payroll” (STP) requirements that means employers have to report after each payday. Businesses with more than 20 employees switched...

Some of the commonest searches on Google by employees for human resource matters relate to employer obligations concerning payslips. Your staff may not ask you directly if they have a question – but they will ask Google. Here are some of the most common questions...

The Fair Work Commission has handed down a ruling relating to flexible working arrangements applicable from 1 December 2018, as part of its push to improve family-friendly provisions in workplaces.While most awards and agreements have had workplace flexibility...

Where employees hand in their notice, but do not comply with the notice periods listed in their award or industrial agreement, employers are entitled to withhold some wages in lieu of notice.A recent decision by the Fair Work Commission clarified these provisions and...

With the cold and flu season in full swing, it pays to revisit requirements for medical certificates for absences. When an employee can’t work because of illness or injury, or if they need to support a member of their immediate family or household who is sick or...

After a long-running review of modern award clauses before a full bench of the Fair Work Commission, changes were made to enable regular casual employees to request to be converted to permanent employment from 1 October 2018.This is not a blanket ruling, which means...

The Fair Work Commission has handed down its decision on Domestic and Family Violence Leave. When do the new provisions kick in? From the first full pay period after 1st August 2018 Who does it apply to? Anyone covered by a modern award including casuals. Who is...

One of the trends with employment contracts is the inclusion of extensive restraint of trade clauses, where employees who leave your organisation are restrained from working in competition with your business in a geographic area for a period of time. When you first...