The unprecedented disruption caused by coronavirus (COVID-19) has left many employers considering their immediate options to reduce expenditure over the coming weeks and months. In most cases, substantial cost-savings may be able ...

Receiving notice of any legal proceedings is enough to make the blood run cold of most business owners and HR professionals. For many, the process of defending such an application can be ...

A topic very near and dear to the Legal Beagles hearts.  Cal and Al return this week with a topic causing some stress for well-known brands – workplace bullying (aka exhibit one for Cal’s claim to the ...

In the current economic climate, it is critical for businesses to constantly identify opportunities to improve efficiency and reduce expenditure. While the prospect of redundancies is certainly not pleasant, they are often ...

If you’re about to lodge a Business Activity Statement (BAS) through the ATO’s Business Portal, now is the time to make the switch. On 27 March, the ATO and 26 other government ...

Investigating an allegation of sexual harassment in the workplace can be one of the greatest challenges a HR professional or employer can face. An allegation of sexual harassment in the workplace carries ...

As we’ve entered a new year, we’ve seen the emergence of a new danger, in the form of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. The first cases were reported in the Chinese ...

Does this wage look right to you? The Legal Beagles, Cal and Al, return for 2020 with a brand new analysis on the wage theft (or non-compliance) scandals that have rocked the headlines. Unfortunately, it ...

It is a common misconception that once an employee is paid a salary, a modern award no longer applies to their employment. Whether a modern award applies to a person mostly depends ...

Employers often spruik their ‘zero tolerance’ drug and alcohol policies when trumpeting their safety and workplace processes and cultures. However, the Fair Work Commission has also been promoting a ‘zero tolerance’ approach ...

2019 is drawing to a close, so the Legal Beagles decided to go over their favourite (and most infamous) dismissal decisions of the year. From family squabbles to extremely bad behaviour, it’s a wild ride ...

With the year almost over, it’s time to reflect on the lessons learned in 2019, and prepare for the start of a new decade. In January, we predicted that compliance would continue to be ...

Since before the introduction of the Fair Work Act it has taken more than just a valid reason to dismiss an employee. From providing an opportunity to respond, to not refusing a ...

Despite strong objection from industry, the Queensland’s Parliament today passed a Bill to make Christmas Eve a part-day public holiday – all work in Queensland after 6:00pm on 24th December will now ...

The Fair Work Commission has recently handed down a significant decision to approve two enterprise agreements for ALDI stores which included ‘loaded rates’, after being the only agreements of five not to ...

With “wage theft” being a hot topic politically, Parliaments around Australia have undertaken inquiries into the matter at a State level since 2018. Following inquiries into “wage theft” in Queensland, South Australia ...

With many Queensland and New South Wales residents displaced from homes due to large-scale bushfires and wide swathes of the country on high fire alert, many employers are contending with the impact ...

Businesses are experiencing an increase in chargeback fraud following changes to the transaction disputation rules of major card providers. In 2018, both Visa and MasterCard changed their transaction disputation rules to make ...

Despite legal protections against sexual harassment existing for some time, it remains an ever present issue in the workplace. The commonality of sexual harassment may be because what constitutes “sexual harassment” is ...

Last week the Queensland Government passed new laws that will change the state’s Workers’ Compensation scheme by introducing some greater responsibilities on employers and insurers, and expanding the scope of coverage for ...

The Federal Government has offered employers some clarity around recruiting applicants with criminal records, after the Australian Human Rights Commission (‘AHRC’) found that Suncorp discriminated against a job applicant with a record. ...

Televisions have become flatter, we’ve moved from typewriters to laptops, and now mobile phones have become our everything-in-one device which dominates communication and even some people’s lives. A number of apps and ...

Whether it’s a quarrelsome employee, a serial underperformer, or a casualty of automation, the stress of dismissing an employee doesn’t end on their last day of employment. It’s not until 3 weeks ...

The concept of redundancy is a reasonably straightforward one – the employer no longer requires the particular job occupied by an individual to be done by anyone. Case closed. The Fair Work ...

Our favourite Legal Beagles talk about the trials and travails of social media and workplace law, but will they ever learn to get along? Like, comment and subscribe to our National Retail Association ...

Cal and Al are back again, this week taking a look at the issue of swearing at work. What are the consequences of letting out an accidental curse word when you stub ...

The last major study into mental health in Australia by the Australian Bureau of Statistics confirmed that 15% of Australians had experienced an affective disorder like depression, while 26.3% have experienced an ...