Articles

A court ruled that an employer’s decision not to renew an expired fixed term employment contract did not involve a “dismissal” for the purposes of Australian employment legislation.

A Court found that an international supermarket chain was required to enter into a greenfields enterprise agreement when expanding its operations and not an ordinary enterprise agreement. This case confirms that an employer establishing a new business cannot circumvent the statutory requirements attending the entry into greenfields agreements by entering into an ordinary enterprise agreement with staff employed elsewhere.

i) The Full Court held that the Australian Federation of Air Pilots was entitled to bring proceedings on behalf of members as well as non-members who were eligible for membership under the rules of the organisation.
ii) The Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission confirmed that a dismissal does not take effect until it has been communicated to the employee and that in this case, the employee’s dismissal did not take effect until the employee had opened and read the email five days after it was sent.

In the last few years, the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) has become increasingly vigilant in pursuing small to medium sized employers who are not compliant with their obligations in relation to employee entitlements, in particular the payment of wages. The FWO is increasingly willing to take Court action against employers who are failing to comply with their obligations arising under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) and any applicable awards. Recent judgments from the Federal Courts also show that Judges are prepared to hand down orders for large penalties where there have been serious contraventions. Given the increasing vigilance in this area of employee entitlements, employers and their directors and managers are strongly encouraged to conduct regular compliance audits and staff training to avoid exposing themselves to civil penalties and back payment orders.