Just in time for your holiday reading, we've compiled our Top 10 Trends in employment and industrial relations in Australia for 2018. Click here to review our selection. We'd love to hear your thoughts if you have any comments. ... Read more

The Modern Slavery Bill 2018 (Cth) (Bill) was passed into law on 29 November 2018. It is expected to commence in January 2019. The Bill creates an ongoing obligation for ‘Reporting Entities’ to file a modern slavery statement (Statement) - being a… Read more

In our previous Legal Briefing we discussed the flurry of recent activity with plaintiff-focussed litigation funders and law firms instituting and threatening to commence class action claims in the mining, direct sales and marketing, and labour hire sectors over the alleged… Read more

The off-payroll working rules (commonly known as IR35) seek to ensure that individuals who are engaged through personal service companies (PSCs) by service users (End Users), but who perform roles equivalent to employees, are taxed through payroll in the same… Read more

An important announcement in the Budget for employers to note was the decision to delay by a further year the introduction of employer Class 1A NICs on termination payments over £30,000, until April 2020. There will also be changes to… Read more

There have been a number of recent developments to licensing schemes in Queensland, South Australia and Victoria. Most notably, the South Australian government has recently announced it intends to repeal the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2017 (SA) and is no… Read more

A security guard on a zero hours contract and supplied mainly to one client for 21 months was held to be an agency worker entitled to rights under the Agency Workers Regulations 2010.  The EAT upheld the tribunal's view that… Read more

On 7 August 2018, the Victorian Government opened a period of public consultation for the exposure draft Regulations under the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2018 (Vic). Submissions are due by close of business on 5 September 2018. A brief summary… Read more

Closely following the passage of the NSW Modern Slavery Act on 21 June 2018 (NSW Act), a federal Modern Slavery Bill was introduced to Parliament on 28 June 2018. Debate on the Bill has been adjourned until the next Parliamentary… Read more

New South Wales has become the first Australian jurisdiction to introduce specific modern slavery legislation. The NSW Modern Slavery Act (NSW Act) is distinct from the proposed federal Act, which is expected to be tabled for debate in the federal… Read more

The Labour Hire Licensing Bill 2017 (Vic) (Bill) was passed on 20 June 2018. A commencement date has not yet been proclaimed. We expect it will be soon, but if no date is proclaimed the legislation will commence no later… Read more

The Supreme Court has today dismissed Pimlico Plumbers (PP)'s appeal against a tribunal decision that plumber Gary Smith was a 'worker' (ie an individual who has undertaken to perform work personally for someone who is not his client or customer)… Read more

On 18 May 2018, HMRC published a consultation document entitled "Off-payroll working in the private sector" with the aim of tackling what it perceives as high levels of non-compliance in the private sector with the existing off-payroll working regime (HMRC… Read more

We have compiled a quick update regarding the progress of labour hire licensing laws: Victoria The Labour Hire Licensing Bill 2017 (Vic) (Bill) was debated in Victoria’s upper house on Friday (see Hansard here). Some clauses of the Bill were agreed… Read more

On 14 September 2017, the Tokyo District Court interpreted and applied the meaning of "unreasonable differences" to the benefits enjoyed by permanent and fixed term employees at Japan Post. The decision provides guidance on which benefits are exclusively available to… Read more

The Labour Hire Licensing Regulation 2018 (Qld) was notified Friday, 6 April 2018. Key matters addressed in the Regulation are: exclusions from the scheme established in the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2017 (Qld); and detail of the operational requirements of… Read more

By way of the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments Act, 2017, the state of Maharashtra has adopted the Central Government's model legislation intended to increase the ease of doing business and boosting employment opportunities for women. The Act represents significant reform… Read more

The Philippines Government has been stepping up its efforts to crack down "labor-contracting" to protect workers' rights, as evidenced by the increase in its monitoring and enforcement actions. It is necessary for companies to ensure that service contractors and sub-contractors… Read more

The EAT in Brazel v The Harper Trust has ruled that employers must calculate holiday pay for term-time (or other casual) workers using the normal rate of pay averaged over the 12 weeks prior to holiday being taken, in accordance… Read more

The EAT has confirmed that once agency workers have accrued 12 weeks on one assignment, they will be entitled to the same pay and certain terms as comparable permanent employees at the end-user looking at each term individually, and it… Read more

The government has this morning issued a press release announcing its response to the independent Taylor Review published last year (see our summary here). The government has given a general commitment to pursue quality of work in addition to number… Read more

The ceaseless trend towards casualisation and new rules of engagement in the gig economy is a modern fact of life. From bicycle couriers to ride sharers and food deliverers, relationships around work continue to fascinate. In the political realm, parliaments… Read more

Australia’s Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade (‘Committee’) has handed down its final report in its inquiry into establishing a Modern Slavery Act in Australia. The inquiry included consideration of the Australian Government’s announcement in August 2017… Read more

Following an inquiry into work arrangements in the labour hire industry, the Victorian Government has recently introduced the Labour Hire Licensing Bill 2017 (Bill). The Bill establishes a licensing scheme for labour hire providers and creates civil and criminal offences… Read more

The ECJ has agreed with the Advocate-General's opinion in King v Sash Windows that workers denied paid holiday can carry over their 4 weeks' statutory holiday entitlement indefinitely and be paid in lieu of the entire accrued untaken entitlement on… Read more

The Spanish Supreme Court (the ‘Supreme Court’) has confirmed that the employment relationship between a temporary employee and its employer may not be broken by a break in service of as long as three and a half months between two… Read more

The Labour Hire Licensing Bill 2017 (SA) (the SA Bill) was passed on 29 November 2017 by the Legislative Council of the South Australian Parliament and the licensing scheme is set to commence on 1 March 2018. Labour hire service… Read more

In China, it is common for companies to engage independent contractors rather than employees when seeking to limit costs and liability. This approach has become particularly popular in certain service based industries such as hospitality, IT and consumer products sales.… Read more

The Labour Hire Licensing Act 2017 (Qld) (Act), which was passed on 7 September 2017, has been proclaimed to commence on 16 April 2018. This means labour hire providers as defined by the Act will have 60 days from that… Read more

In a recent article published by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the Ministry has clarified its position regarding the entitlement of dispatched workers who are employed on a fixed term basis to be converted to permanent employment upon… Read more