Articles

Authors: Greg Robertson, Amy Zhang, Benjamin Niciak and Amelia Dowey Non-disclosure agreements (“NDAs”) may be restricted in Victoria under proposed reforms following a wide-ranging workplace sexual harassment review. The Victorian Government has also signalled support to ensure workplaces treat sexual harassment as an occupational health and safety issue. On 8 March 2021, the Victorian Government […]

Authors: Greg Robertson and Amelia Dowey The Fair Work Commission handed down a decision earlier this month that increased the national minimum wage by 5.2% for workers not covered by an award or registered agreement. Similarly, modern award minimum wages have been increased by 4.6% subject to a minimum increase for adult award classifications of […]

Authors: Emma Pritchard and Maria Markoulli In March 2020, the Australian Human Rights Commission (Australia’s national human rights institution) published its Respect@Work Report, making 55 recommendations to the Commonwealth Government (as well as states and territories, employers and industry groups) to prevent and address sexual harassment in the workplace. The focus of many of the […]

Authors: Jenny Inness and Justin Pen The Victorian Supreme Court has held that time limits under the Limitation of Actions Act 1958 (Vic) (“LOA Act”) do not apply to claims based on breaches of the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic) (“EEO Act”) (the state of Victoria’s chief anti-discrimination legislation), such that there is no strict […]

Author: Justin Pen The High Court of Australia has clarified the proper approach to be taken when determining if a worker has been engaged as an ‘employee’ or an ‘independent contractor’, in cases where the parties’ contractual arrangements are wholly in writing. In Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union v Personnel Contracting Pty Ltd […]

Authors: Amy Zhang and Justin Pen In a broad case challenging the dismissal of two union employees and elected officials from their employment with the Construction & General Division of the Construction, Forestry, Mining, Maritime and Energy Union (“CFMMEU”), the Federal Court of Australia (Perram J) has observed that a ‘dismissal’ for the purposes of […]

Authors: Amy Zhang, Justin Pen and Angela Zhang Gutierrez v MUR Shipping Australia Pty Limited [2021] FedCFamC2G 56 In Gutierrez v MUR Shipping Australia Pty Limited, Mr Alex Gutierrez, a long-serving chief accountant, was awarded damages of $20,000 for non-economic loss suffered after being subjected to age discrimination by his former employer, MUR Shipping. The […]

Authors: Amy Zhang, Lauren Brouwer-French and Maria Markoulli Background Facts Ms Catherine Addy, a citizen of the United Kingdom, entered Australia on a Working Holiday (Temporary) (Class TZ) (Subclass 417) visa under the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) on 20 August 2015.    Ms Addy primarily lived and worked in Australia until May 2017. During the 2017 […]

Authors: Sarah Younis and Maria Markoulli The Australian Federal Government introduced a suite of 5 pieces of legislation as part of its Modernising Business Registers Program, with the operative legislation being the Treasury Laws Amendment (Registries Modernisation and Other Measures) Act 2020 (Cth) (MBR Act). There are two key implications of the MBR Act: The […]

Authors: Greg Robertson, Amelia Dowey and Liz Baradan The recent decision of the Full Bench (White, O’Callaghan and Colvin JJ) of the Federal Court of Australia in Alam v National Australia Bank Ltd [2021] FCAFC 178 (“Alam v National Australia Bank”) provides superior court clarity on the circumstances in which an employee’s complaint or inquiry […]