Working From Home – What Needs to be Included in Your Policy for Staff?
With the escalation of COVID-19 virus, employers need to ensure their policies and procedures for working from home are up to date
Employee Successfully Sues Employer for Sexual Assault by On-call Caretaker
In the recent decision of Oaks Hotels & Resorts Ltd v Knauer & Ors¹, the Queensland Court of Appeal found an employer vicariously liable for its employee sexually assaulting another worker. Background Ms Knauer was employed as a guest services [...]
What does the National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces mean for employers?
By John Salter, BTLawyers HR Consultant In a move which has the potential to impact on all employers and their work sites, a national inquiry into sexual harassment in Australian workplaces has been announced by the sex discrimination commissioner Kate [...]
Fair Work Commission lifts minimum wage rates by $22 per week- a surprising 3.3% increase
By John Salter The Fair Work Commission President Justice Iain Ross handed down the commission’s annual judgement today on what will be minimum pay rates in Australia for the financial year commencing 1 July 2017- and it seems no one [...]
Five things employers should do following a workplace accident
It is something every employer dreads; a workplace accident which causes injury to one of their employees. Don't let it happen to you.
5 ways your safety culture could impact the outcome of a common law claim
By BTLawyers Long gone are the days when workers wore sneakers and singlets to work sites, hard hats were optional, and workers could be left in charge of machinery without thorough safety training. Instead you’ll now be hard-pressed to find [...]
Eyes Wide Shut: Employer’s liability and management of employee fatigue
You’ve got an employee who’s just finished working four straight days of 12-hour shifts. He lives five hours away. At the end of his last shift, he elects to drive home. Three hours into his journey he falls asleep [...]
Drug testing employees? Make sure you’ve got a policy in place.
You suspect one of your staff members is regularly turning up to work affected by their drug intake. Or there’s been an incident at work, and an investigation has uncovered that the staff member involved was impaired by alcohol at the time. What do you do?
Out Cold: How sporting clubs should manage the health and legal risks of concussions
As the NRL season in Australia kicks off for another year, there is one thing that we can be guaranteed to see on the field several times before the season ends – players experiencing a concussion.
What should you do when an employee goes AWOL? It’s not as straightforward as you might think.
By John Salter One day Mary doesn’t show up to work. You don’t hear from her to say that she’s sick, has an injury, or giving any explanation for her absence, and it’s out of character for her to not [...]