Workplace Solutions

The Senate will be conducting an inquiry into gender segregation in the workplace and its impact on women’s equality in conjunction with the Finance and Administration Committee. The Committee will be comparing ‘the nature and extent of industrial and occupational gender segregation’ in Australian workplaces with other similar countries.

The Terms of Reference were proposed by Labor on behalf of committee chair Senator Jenny McAlister but a motion to extend the scope of the inquiry to include unpaid domestic labour by Greens Senator Larissa Waters, was rejected. [...]  READ MORE →

A Civil Aviation Safety Authority inspector brought 30 bullying allegations against his team leader and a colleague, but only one was held to constitute unreasonable behaviour. The anti-bullying order was dismissed but Commissioner Nick Wilson noted the interpersonal dysfunction of the team that could potentially have the ‘severest consequences’.

The Fair Work Commissioner recommended a three-month ‘workplace culture and improvement plan’ and for the inspector to participate in a performance review with CASA and his team leader to work on a work plan together.
The inspector, his colleague, his team leader and CASA have been requested to write to the Fair Work Commission within a month to advise of a negotiated contract of employment. Cultural barriers were believed to have affected the functionality of the team and cultural training should be undertaken to better ensure fair work for all employees. [...]  READ MORE →

A homophobic and Islamophobic driver of a BHP-Biliton subsidiary was reinstated by the Fair Work Commission after being dismissed by Mt Arthur Coal for discriminatory conduct. The driver lost five months’ worth of wages for making homophobic slurs and derogatory comments based on race and religion over a chat radio channel for workers.

He made sexually explicit comments such as referring to a colleague’s book as ’50 ways to eat cock’ and disclosed intentions to attend a Reclaim Australia rally due to a ‘complete gutful’ of how Muslims ‘think they can run the whole show’. The employee’s actions were in no doubt, breach of his employment contract, employment and workplace law, and the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth). [...]  READ MORE →

A business development manager of Advantage Communication and Data Pty Ltd was dismissed in May this year for serious misconduct stemming from anger issues, costing the business a $35,000 shortfall.

Complaints led by ACD’s partner, Telstra, alleged that the manager was very aggressive towards Telstra’s telephone consultants which in turn lowered employee morale and damaged the working relationship between Telstra and ADM.

The manager’s anger management issues consequentially impacted his performance at work, failing to issue invoices for products supplied to clients over a period of nine months, contributing to cash flow issues for the company. [...]  READ MORE →

The Fair Work Commission in Grinholz v Football Federation Victoria Inc has provided useful criteria, which can be used in order to determine whether a contract is an employment contract or a contract between a volunteer and an organisation.[1

When determining whether a contract is an employment contract, the Fair Work Commission will have regard to a number of factors, including:

• Does the individual work solely for the organisation?
• Does the organisation deduct income tax from remuneration paid?
• Is the individual paid by periodic wages or a salary?
• Does the individual’s work create goodwill or saleable assets for the employer’s business?

These factors are not exhaustive. However, they are still a useful guide for how the Fair Work Commission will determine whether a contract is an employment contract or a contract with an independent contractor, under workplace law. [...]  READ MORE →

The Fair Work Ombudsman has secured penalties against the head company of the Yogurberry chain for underpaying workers at the World Square Yogurberry outlet between July 2014 and May 2015 in an unprecedented first in using accessorial liability provisions. The workers were paid as little as $8 per hour totalling underpayments of $17,827 in breach of employment law.

Yogurberry World Square was fined $75,000 for breaches of workplace law including failing to pay the workers on 417 visas the minimum rates of pay, casual loading, penalty rates and for failing to provide adequate records and provide pay slips. [...]  READ MORE →

In Grinholz v Football Federation Victoria Inc  the Fair Work Commission has had to determine whether a football coach was a volunteer or an employee of the Football Federation Victoria Inc (“the Football Federation”). [1]

The contract between the coach and the Football Federation offered the coach up to $6,000 as an honorarium, half of which he would receive at the beginning of the program and the other half at the end. The contract between the two parties was terminated by the Football Federation, following an alleged breach of contract by the coach. [...]  READ MORE →

The employee in Roussety v Castricum Brothers Pty Ltd [2016] VSC 466 had signed an employment contract, which required him to work long hours and be on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. At first the employer was enthusiastic and happy about the conditions of his contract of employment. However, a number of years later things began to change, and eventually the employer developed a psychiatric injury, as a result of obligations imposed on him by his employer.

The Court found that the employer should have noticed the employee was at risk of developing a psychiatric injury, after the employee collapsed at work and made a number of complaints regarding his workload. The Court noted that it should have become obvious to the employee that the employee had symptoms of mental anguish and psychological ailment, especially after he needed to take an out of character prolonged absence from work. [...]  READ MORE →

It is important that employers ensure the workload they give to their employees is not too onerous, under workplace law. In Roussety v Castricum Brothers Pty Ltd [2016] VSC 466 the Victorian Supreme Court has found that an employer had breached their duty of care owed to their employee, after imposing a workload that was far too onerous on the employee. As a result of this workload, the employee developed a psychiatric injury.

The Court accepted that at first there was no reason for the employer to suspect the employee was at risk of a psychiatric injury. However, after the employee collapsed at work and made numerous complaints to his employer about the inadequacy of his working conditions, management was on notice that the employee may develop a psychiatric condition as a result of his working conditions, and should have taken action to prevent this. [...]  READ MORE →

The Federal Court (“Court”) in Chappell v Griffin Coal Mining Company Pty Ltd, [1] has granted an employee injunctive relief to restrain their employer, from using a video in any disciplinary proceedings against the employee. The video was secretly recorded by a security guard employed by the employer and involved the employee making offensive comments about the employer’s managers and owner, including racially abusive comments.

The employee argued that the video should not be used against him as: [...]  READ MORE →