On 16 December Parliament approved emergency legislation temporarily changing the statutory sick pay rules with effect from today, 17 December, in order to free up GP time for the vaccine booster programme. For any period of sickness starting on or after 10 December and up to the end of 26 January 2022, employees will not … Read more

This post is an update to our November 16, 2021 article titled “US: Federal Vaccine-or-Test Mandate Hits the Lottery System”. Having been chosen by lottery to decide on the legality of OSHA’s vaccine-or-test mandate, including whether to uphold the Fifth Circuit’s stay of the mandate, a 2-1 majority of the Sixth Circuit decided on Friday December … Read more

2021 has been another turbulent year in the employment, industrial relations and safety space in Australia. We’re proud to have worked with our clients on some of their most challenging people issues including the development of mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies, sexual harassment and sexual assault in the workplace, and underpayments. As we move into 2022 … Read more

Overnight, the changes made pursuant to the Public Health and Wellbeing Amendment (Pandemic Management) Act 2021 (Vic) (Act) came to life in Victoria. The Act introduces a framework specific to pandemics in the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 (Vic) (PHW Act), which replaces the current framework that has been applied to Victoria since the … Read more

A week after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued its long-awaited vaccine-or-test requirements, a panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed its stay of the November 5, 2021 OSHA mandate.  The panel found the federal mandate – which came in the form of a rare emergency temporary standard (ETS) and covers … Read more

There are many different rules and regulations governing how employees return to the physical workplace, following the upheaval of Covid-19, and how to ensure the health and safety of workforces. Do employees need to provide proof of a double vaccination, a negative test, or recent recovery from COVID-19?  The law is rapidly changing and varies … Read more

Auditing, advisory and tax services firm PwC recently announced that 40,000 client services employees based in the US would be permitted to work virtually and live in any location in perpetuity. Those in support staff roles such as human resources and legal operations were given the option to work virtually on a full-time basis some … Read more

Note (22 October 2021): The Directions referred to in the below article have since been replaced by the COVID-19 Mandatory Vaccination (Workers) Directions (No 5). These latest Directions now apply until 11.59pm, 18 November 2021, which aligns with the newly extended State of Emergency. Whilst the remainder of the information contained in the below article … Read more