Read several key recommendations from Ashurst’s Talia Firth for what an employer should consider when making decisions related to redundancies and workplace restructures. Speaking at an upcoming workshop on this topic, Talia also points out two key case decisions that help explain her rationale.
In the Paul Williams and Ors v Staples Pty Ltd case, “the FWC ordered the applicants be reinstated in light of the available redeployment opportunities, the fact that there was no evidence of any deterioration in the employment relationship and the applicants’ unblemished work records.”
Post employment restraints is a buzzing topic at the moment and in this short article by Warwick Ryan of Swaab Attorneys, he provides a few tips for employers on how to review this issue in their own workplaces. “Without effective post-employment restraint clauses – who really owns the business?” he asks.
Employees are sometimes accused of abandoning their employment. The employee may have simply disappeared. Other times, the employee remains in contact but, perhaps because of an (alleged) injury or illness, refuses or fails to attend at work. Where is the line drawn between temporary absence and abandonment and, in any case, how should an employer deal with it?
Holding Redlich points out learnings from the recent DP World Sydney Limited v Guy [2016] NSWSC 1072 (1 August 2016) decision; “Consider whether your contracts have garden leave provisions… It is much easier to enforce a garden leave provision than a post-employment restraint of trade provision.”
The Federal Court of Australia has affirmed that employers can be liable for misleading or deceptive representations made to prospective employees during negotiations over their terms and conditions of employment. Allens’ Tristan Garcia and Rebecca Kok report.
Whilst the “employment contract” topic has been explored many times before, Page Seager provide us with an article that emphasises the drafting of an ‘employer friendly’ document. Read these case examples and five handy reminders.
“You need to ensure you have the right to put an employee on gardening leave,” writes Charles Power of Holding Redlich. “If you don’t have that right and act as if you do, the employee could treat him or herself as being constructively dismissed.” Learn more about this issue here.