How to make sure your business is prepared for the new Fair Work Act.
click here to get a free trailDear Reader,
Last week, a rather interesting case caught my eye…
It involved Australian fashion chain Cotton On, who admitted to failing to pay 3289 employees for attending training sessions and staff meetings outside of work hours over an 11 month period in 2008.
The company voluntarily paid back $278,000 to the under payed employees and will now report to the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) each year for the next three years about the wage rates and entitlements it pays its employees.
In last Thursday’s Bulletin I went over the things you can never discriminate against an employee for.
But you need to be sure that you never discriminate against anyone in your workplace in any way.
So I thought today would be good chance to recap exactly what is meant by discrimination.
The recent case in the Supreme Court of Victoria between the former Herald-Sun newspaper editor, Bruce Guthrie, and his former employer highlights the need for you to understand how unwritten or “implied” terms in employment contracts may operate.
The Guthrie case is not a claim of unfair dismissal under the Fair Work Act – it is a claim based on implied terms in an employment contract, which Mr Guthrie claims gives him a “backdoor” right not be unfairly dismissed.
Implied terms (or unwritten terms) are terms that are not expressed in writing in a contract, but are considered by courts to be part of it.
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