An employee was recently awarded $466,000 plus 90% legal costs for sexual harassment by her employer.
Incidence of sexual harassment is increasing in today’s marketplace and legislation requires that you have policies and procedures to manage these complaints, to manage grievances in a timely and unbiased manner or you will pay the penalty.
Biz Momentum conduct Sexual Harassment investigations and can assist you minimise your risks.
You are urged to take action to protect your business interests.
Chiropractors’ are covered by a new award, the Health Professional and Support Services Award 2010.
There are significant fines for those that decide not to comply. Recently in a Guild Paper to the Chiropractors’ Association of Australia detailed information was given that demonstrated vast changes are required to be made in the way staff are remunerated.
We at Biz Momentum look after many Chiropractors Australia wide and can assist you comply and reduce costs. We are Chiropractic employee relations specialists to many practices. We have provided the Guild advice to you – it is serious and you must take action now.
Please speak with us on 07 3349 5662 or 0409 002 365 or email us.
The federal government have updated the Small Business Dismissal Code. The code contains some new questions that you must answer in order to satisfy the code.
We have made a copy available to you online.
Contact Biz Momentum 61 7 3379 5662 for assistance with dismissals and termination matters.
Over the next 12 months, Australian employers will face further changes to the minimum safety net of employment entitlements. The Paid Parental Leave Bill 2010 (Cth) received Royal Assent on 14 July 2010, and introduces a national Paid Parental Leave Scheme, which is scheduled to commence on 1 January 2011.
For the first half of 2011, a six-month grace period will apply. In that period employers will be able to “opt-in” to administer parental leave payments, should they choose to do so.
From 1 July 2011, all employers will be obliged to administer the Scheme for their eligible employees.
Overview of the Paid Parental Leave Scheme
The main features of the Scheme are as follows:
Subject to qualifying criteria, full-time, part-time and casual employees will be eligible for parental leave payments.
Paid parental leave will be a government funded “entitlement” calculated at the Federal minimum wage rate, adjusted annually. This rate is currently $569.90 per week for a full time employee.
The federal government have updated the threshold on what amount a person earns before they are considered a high income earning employee and therefore award free. This is effective 1 July 2010.
This means that you must review your agreements where they contain a guarantee of annual income to ensure they comply with the new amount.
For your convenience the NES Fair Work Statement is attached.
For assistance call us at Biz Momentum 61 7 3349 5662 – operating Australia wide.
Reasonable additional hours are additional hours worked each week in access of 38 (or agreed or usual weekly hours for permanent part-time employees’ or casuals) that are considered reasonable after certain factors have been taken into account.
You must consider all the relevant circumstances before deciding if additional hours are reasonable. Some considerations may be:
Are there any health and safety factors in the employee working additional hours?
Has the employee certain commitments that would be unreasonable for them to forgo? (more…)
As part of normal business practice today employers are increasingly dependent on employee’s performing their duties by using email and internet technology.
Recent studies have demonstrated that abuse of these systems is rife in the workplace. In one investigation Biz Momentum discovered that one employee had visited over 500 different porn sites in a 6 months period. Employers have an obligation to inform, train and ensure that employees understand their responsibilities and rights in using the employers email and internet systems.
The commonwealth government has introduced a paid parental leave scheme for all eligible Australians. The scheme is scheduled to begin 1 January 2011 and YOU NEED to be aware of your obligations.
While nothing is set in concrete the government recently released draft legislation which is expected to be passed soon. Basically the scheme provides primary caregivers of newborn children with 18 weeks paid parental leave.
Some of the details are:
There will be a phasing in period of 6 months where the draft indicated that the employer will not be required to pay the caregiver and where the caregiver will claim directly from the Family Assistance Office. You will be required to pay eligible primary caregivers from 1 July 2011.
The introduction of Fair Work has brought about many changes that an employer is required to keep abreast of and ensure compliance with.
Most employment agreements are now out of date and now may be a good time to bring your agreements up to date. There are significant penalties for non compliance.
Consider the following;
Do your agreements provide an acknowledgement that the employee has the right to work in Australia.