Remember, if you employ 15 or more full-time employees, there are 3 key changes to unfair dismissal laws that have applied to you since 1 July 2009:

• Your casuals can lodge unfair dismissal claims if terminated after 6 months’ regular service. Before 1 July the minimum period for casuals was 12 months.
• If you want to retrench an employee, you need to be able to show that the employee’s job is no longer required (i.e. the dismissal was not motivated by reason of something personal to the employee). You also have to be able to prove that it was not reasonable to offer the employee another role within your business or corporate group.
• As before, if you want to dismiss an employee for poor performance, you will need to show that you have warned them at least once (preferably in writing) that if they did not improve their performance their ongoing employment would be in jeopardy.

For more information about new changes to unfair dismissal laws, watch out for the newly updated Dismissal and Unfair Dismissal chapters in your next Employment Law Practical Handbook update. It’s due to arrive in your mailbox next week.

Charles Power
Editor-in-Chief
Employment Law Practical Handbook

Tags: casual employees, employee, Employment Law Practical Handbook, full-time employees, poor performance, unfair dismissal claims, Unfair Dismissal Laws