The Fair Work Commission’s latest Annual Report for 2016/2017, released last week, shows that general protections claims are on the rise. There has been a 12.3 per cent increase in general protections claims involving dismissals over the last year. In 2015/2016 there were 3,270 general protections claims involving dismissals. In 2016/2017 this went up to 3,729 such claims. What are the reasons for this increase, how many matters resolve at conciliation and is settlement always…
The February 2017 decision of a Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission (FWC) to cut penalty rates in certain modern award, as detailed in our blog post here, has been upheld following an appeal by unions in the Federal Court of Australia Full Court (FCAFC). Background In February this year, the FWC handed down a decision reducing penalty rates on Sundays and public holidays in several modern awards. The penalty rate reduction came about…
Employers across Australia will be facing increased scrutiny, investigation and liability arising from the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Vulnerable Workers) Bill 2017 (the Bill), which passed the Senate last night. These new laws will place significant pressure on franchisors and holding companies which to date may have turned a blind eye to the practices of their franchisees. The Bill amends the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the FW Act) to: introduce higher penalties for serious…
Baker McKenzie special counsel Maria Hurley-Smith explores some of the changes flagged by the Fair Work Commission’s review of modern awards – listen here.