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Employment & Workplace Matters

 

Suffering loss and damage due to something that has happened at work? Have you been unfairly dismissed from you place of employment?

Peninsula Law has lawyers experienced in dealing with all areas of workplace and employment law.

  • Employment Contracts
  • Unfair Dismissal
  • Redundancy
  • Wages and Entitlements
  • Superannuation
  • Issues Affecting Contractors.
  • Workers Compensation
  • Bullying, Harassment or Intimidation
  • Discrimination

FAQs

 
What laws must employers follow when hiring new employees?

There are workplace laws that apply to all employees in the national workplace relations system. Before hiring a new employee, an employer should make sure that they know about their responsibilities under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth).

The National Employment Standards

There are 10 National Employment Standards (NES) that apply to all employees in the national system.

Awards & Agreements

Modern Awards

A modern award is a document that sets out the minimum wages and conditions for an industry or occupation. They apply on top of the NES. Modern awards cover things like pay, hours of work, rosters, breaks, allowances, penalty rates and overtime.

Enterprise Agreements

An enterprise agreement is a document that sets out the minimum wages and conditions for a workplace. When an agreement is in place, it will usually apply instead of the modern award. The agreement is negotiated between the employer, a group of employees and their representatives. The agreement is then lodged with the Fair Work Commission for approval.

Award/Agreement free employees

Some employees will not be covered by a modern award or enterprise agreement. These employees are considered to be award/agreement free. These employees are still entitled to the national minimum wage and the NES.

Wages

Employees must be paid at least the minimum wage provided in their award or agreement. If they are not covered by an award or agreement, they must be paid at least the national minimum wage. Pay rates are based on an employee’s duties and other factors like their age and qualifications. If an employee’s duties change, their wage may also change. Wages usually increase on 1 July every year.

Record-keeping & Pay Slips

An employer needs to keep written time and wage records for each employee. This includes records about:

  • their employment including:
    • the employee’s name;
    • the employer’s name and ABN;
    • whether the employee is full-time or part-time, permanent, fixed term or casual;
    • the date on which the employee began employment,
  • pay;
  • overtime;
  • hours of work;
  • leave;
  • superannuation contributions;
  • termination of employment;

agreements relating to an individual’s employment including individual flexibility agreements and guarantees of annual earnings.

These records must be kept for at least seven years. An employer should also give all employees a pay slip within one day of paying their wages.

Discrimination

Discrimination in the workplace is illegal. Employees (or potential employees) cannot be discriminated against because of their race, colour, sex, sexual preference, age, physical or mental disability, marital status, family or carer’s responsibilities, pregnancy, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin.

Taxation & Superannuation

Employers need to meet tax obligations for all workers. This includes PAYG withholding and superannuation on behalf of their employees. Some employers will also have to pay payroll tax when their total wages exceed a certain level called the ‘exemption threshold’.

Workplace Health & Safety and Worker’s Compensation

As an employer, it is their responsibility to provide a healthy and safe working environment for their employees. An employer should also pay worker’s compensation insurance for their employees.

What is unfair dismissal?

Employees in Australia have the right to not be subjected to a dismissal that is considered unreasonably harsh or unjust. If an employee works for a small business with less than 15 employees they need to have worked for that employer for a minimum period of 12 months to be covered by unfair dismissal laws. If they work for a larger company, they need to have worked for that employer for a minimum period of 6 months to be covered. They must also earn less than $133,000 a year and be classified as an employee and not a contractor.

What is redundancy?

A redundancy may occur when an employer no longer requires a position to be filled. This may be due to a restructuring of operations or changes in financial performance that renders a position unaffordable. A genuine redundancy often requires a one-off payment to be made to the employee based upon their length of service.

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