Biz Momentum Blog

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.

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.
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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…)

Having long term casual employees in your business comes with obligations.

Did you know a long term casual employee?

• Has the right to a claim for unfair and unlawful dismissal.
• Is entitled to paid long service leave.
• Must be given a copy of the Fair Work Information Statement.
• May be entitled to unpaid parental leave (maternity, paternity and adoption leave).

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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.

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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.

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Under Fair Work there is no statutory limit as to how long a verbal or written warning remains valid.
However as a general rule, depending on the severity of the circumstances and the event one to six months is appropriate.
In considering warnings there are some things an employer should consider;

• Ensure the confidentiality of the warning process as being between only those parties that have involvement in the process.

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A “DELIBERATELY dishonest” manager sacked after colluding with his colleagues to defraud his employer has had the manner of his dismissal ruled unreasonable by Fair Work Australia. 

In the latest decision to concern employers, the tribunal found that the employee’s admission that he had taken money from his employer, Kings Transport and Logistics, warranted his termination. 

Fair Work said the employee’s actions were “deliberately dishonest” and he had “conducted himself in a manner fundamentally inconsistent with the basic expectations of an employee”. 

But while the tribunal found the reason for his sacking was valid, it ruled that it was unreasonable because of the way the company had investigated the allegations. 

“The evidence before me indicates that Kings has demonstrated an entirely inconsistent approach to the employees involved in this behaviour,” it said. 

“This could only be described as managerial incompetence”.

The message is clear; conduct procedures and processes professionally.

see www.biz-momentum.com to assistance.

WorkSafe Victoria is conducting a blitz of up to 40,000 workplaces to ensure they comply with anti bullying legislation.

This came about after a young restaurant worker committed suicide after repeated bullying over a period of a year. The business was fined $335,000.

Now may be a good time to ensure you have the correct policies, procedures, training and complaint management processes in place.

To see how we can assist your business contact Biz Momentum for assistance today www.biz-momentum.com

We are specialists in managing workplace bullying and grievances.

Compassionate leave is a leave entitlement to employees separate from any other type of leave and is 2 days leave on any one occasion.

S12 of the Fair Work Act sets out who is an eligible family member when it comes to granting an employee compassionate leave.

“immediate family” means:

1.   a spouse, de facto partner, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of the employee; or

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