The JobKeeper subsidy has been designed to support businesses that have been significantly affected by COVID-19 and to ensure that more Australians maintain employment. An eligible employee will receive $1,500 a fortnight from 30 March 2020 until 27 September 2020. Both the employer and employee need to satisfy eligibility criteria throughout the period to receive … Continued
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fair Work Amendment (Variation of Enterprise Agreements) Regulations 2020 has shortened the access period for a proposed variation of an enterprise agreement from the usual 7 days to 1 day. This means that the period that employees must have access to a copy of the proposed variation of an enterprise … Continued
The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) has been amended to assist employers, who qualify for the JobKeeper subsidy, in dealing with the impact of COVID-19. These amendments only apply to employers eligible for the JobKeeper subsidy. These are temporary measures to assist employees in keeping jobs during the economic downturn and work restrictions as a … Continued
The impact of the Coronavirus pandemic can have severe financial consequences if your construction contract risks are not properly managed. Liquidated damages, increases in the price of labour (due to inefficiencies caused by social distancing and now having to work 7 days a week in some cases), increased costs for materials or equipment used or ordered … Continued
A whistleblower is an individual who comes forward and shares his/her knowledge on any wrongdoing which he/she thinks is happening in the whole organisation or in a specific division/department. The following categories of persons may be whistleblowers: an officer or employee (e.g. current and former employees who are permanent, part-time, fixed-term or temporary, interns, secondees, … Continued
The Fair Work Commission has made changes to the annualised salary provisions in a number of Modern Awards, which will substantially affect the way that annualised salary arrangements are administered by employers. These changes came into effect on 1 March 2020 and all employers using annualised salary arrangement must ensure that their arrangements are compliant. These … Continued
We recently received an enquiry from a member who was looking at entering into an enterprise agreement for its Brisbane employee base. In particular, the member was concerned about how that agreement would affect any overlapping project-specific enterprise agreements that it already had in place or may put in place in the future. As a … Continued
Businesses working in the construction industry should be advised that on 1 July 2019 an amendment to the Fair Work Regulations took effect requiring that all union entry permits, issued on or after 1 July 2019, incorporate the following: the permit holder’s full name; the name of the organisation that applied for the entry permit; … Continued
It’s coming up that time again where we wrap up the year, celebrate the successes of the past 12 months and enjoy the Christmas festivities. With the holiday season fast approaching it is also important for businesses to remember that this time of year can come with its own specific issues that need to be managed. … Continued
Case reference: Australian Building and Construction Commissioner v Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union [2018] HCA 3 A ruling from the High Court last week has confirmed that under the Fair Work Act, a court is entitled to make a “personal payment order” which ensures that a union official who has been required to pay a … Continued
The recent High Court decision of Maxcon Constructions Pty Ltd v Vadasz [2018] HCA 5 confirmed that any contract clause which ties the release of retention to some event under the Head Contract will be a “pay when paid” provision under the Security of Payment legislation and therefore that relevant clause is void or of … Continued
You can now serve notices (i.e. Payment Claims, Payment Schedules, Statutory Notices, Adjudication Applications etc) by way of email and the ability to serve any such notices by facsimile has been removed except where your contract provides for service by facsimile. These changes were brought about by the Electronic Transactions Legislation Amendment (Government Transactions) Act … Continued