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Rising Stars in the Legal Profession

PRESS RELEASE

Rising Stars in the Legal Profession

Two Senior Associates from specialist employment law firm, Aitken Legal, have been recognised as Rising Stars for 2022 by the Australasian Lawyer. Senior Associates Hamish Procter and Kate Simpson both demonstrated leadership and significant achievements in relation to employment law and industrial relations advice they provided to clients across all industries during 2021. Australasian Lawyers […]

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EMPLOYMENT UPDATE

Employee or Contractor – The High Court simplifies the approach to determining the status of a worker

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On 9 February 2022, the High Court of Australia handed down two highly anticipated decisions: Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union & Anor v Personnel Contracting Pty Ltd [2022] HCA 1 (‘Personnel’); and ZG Operations & Anor v Jamsek & Ors [2022] HCA 2 (‘Jamsek’). The decisions confirm that where the parties have committed […]

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Employee vs Contractor

ALERT!

The High Court provides clarity for employers to determine whether a person is a contractor or not

Last week the High Court handed down two highly anticipated decisions, the first decision determined that an unskilled construction labourer engaged by a labour hire company was an employee despite a signed Administrative Services Agreement (‘ASA’) describing the worker as a “self-employed contractor”.  The second decision determined that two truck drivers, despite providing exclusive delivery […]

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Public Health Order

EMPLOYMENT UPDATE

An employee’s defiance of a public health order was a valid reason for dismissal

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In a recent unfair dismissal decision, the Fair Work Commission (‘FWC’) confirmed that a crane company had a valid reason to dismiss a mobile crane operator (‘employee’), who attended an illegal protest in contravention of a Victorian Government public health stay-at-home order (‘PHO’). Significantly, the FWC rejected the employee’s claim that although he had attended […]

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EMPLOYMENT UPDATE

2021 – A Year in Review

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2021 has been a challenging one for employers.  Not only have we seen many of our clients grapple with the ongoing impact of COVID-19 and the legal challenges that have come with it, but also do their best to keep up-to-date with many other employment law related developments throughout the year. In this Employment Update […]

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Alert Public Health

ALERT!

Public Health Direction behind 17 December 2021 restrictions finally released

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Yesterday, the Queensland Government released the ‘Public Health and Social Measures linked to vaccination status Direction’ (‘Direction’) which will be effective from 5am (AEST) Friday, 17 December 2021.  This is the direction that underpins the Queensland Government’s announcement of restrictions for unvaccinated persons on 9 November 2021. A link to the Direction can be found […]

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EMPLOYMENT UPDATE

COVID-19 vaccination mandate – but what happens when employees don’t comply?

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The last two years have been challenging for employers in more ways than one.  Employers have dealt with the financial and operational effects of COVID-19 and now they are faced with a new challenge, the dilemma of mandatory vaccination.  In this Employment Update we will briefly consider two recent cases dealing with mandatory COVID-19 vaccination […]

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PUBLIC SECTOR

Rise of the unregistered “fake” union

Unregistered “fake” unions have increased their presence in Queensland and New South Wales,[1] and are actively supporting the anti-mandate movement in respect of COVID-19 vaccinations. These organisations are targeting new members in the nursing, teaching and law enforcement industries. Most (if not all) of these organisations have been established as corporations. This means that the […]

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EMPLOYMENT UPDATE

Confusion about “temporary” absences clarified by the Fair Work Commission

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In this Employment Update we deal with the often vexed question of “temporary” absence and the three (3) month period referred to in the Regulations to the Fair Work Act. The Fair Work Commission has considered the meaning of a “temporary” absence in two recent unfair dismissal decisions, both heard by Commissioner Jennifer Hunt. Both […]

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