Baker McKenzie special counsel Maria Hurley-Smith dissects the Fair Work Commission’s decision on penalty rates, and explains what it means for employers and workers – to listen click here.
The Fair Work Commission is considering a proposal to introduce 10 days of domestic violence leave for workers. Maria Hurley-Smith, a special counsel at Baker & McKenzie, discusses the proposal and existing domestic violence leave regimes – listen here.
The South Australian Industrial Relations Court has recorded the first conviction against a company for failing to comply with the duty to consult, cooperate and coordinate activities with other duty holders in relation to work health and safety matters. A trainee and apprentice placement organisation, Trainee and Apprentice Placement Services Inc. (TAPS), was fined $12,000, a fraction of the potential maximum penalty of $100,000, for breach of consultation obligations (for a corporation) under the Model…
The promotion of workplace safety was key to a recent decision of the Fair Work Commission (FWC) regarding summary dismissal of an employee for offending her employer’s drug and alcohol policy. This decision follows a recent trend in the FWC of upholding employers’ zero tolerance safety rules. A dump truck operator on a mine site was dismissed for serious misconduct after she breached a ‘cardinal rule’ of her employer’s drug and alcohol protocols that no…