Employment Espresso Pods: Labour’s Proposals: Part 1

In the first of a new season of Employment Espresso Pods, Partner Tim Leaver, together with Consultant Peter Frost and Senior Associate Sian McKinley, discuss the key employment-related proposals put forward by the Labour Party in its Green Paper last year and the recent party conference.   Particularly eye-catching proposals on Labour’s agenda discussed in … Read more

Australia: Talking Shop EP11 – Unpacking the Australian Closing Loopholes Bill: What this means for consumer sector employers

Natalie Gaspar joins Aoife Xuereb to discuss the Australian Federal Government’s proposed changes to employment and industrial relations, following the introduction of the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes Bill) 2023 (Cth). Natalie delves into how these reforms could impact employers in the consumer sector, including in relation to casual employment, fixed term contracts, wage theft compliance, gig-economy participants and … Read more

The Australian Government Tables Closing Loopholes Bill: What It Means For Your Business

On 4 September 2023, the Federal Government introduced the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023 (Cth) (Bill) in the House of Representatives. This Bill is significant, running to 278 pages and covering 28 distinct parts. It proposes reforms that will have a substantial impact on employers, employees, principals, and contractors. In many respects, the Bill … Read more

Australia: Zombies rise from the industrial crypt – upcoming notification obligations under the Secure Jobs, Better Pay reforms

The recent Secure Jobs, Better Pay reforms to the Fair Work Act require employers to notify employees covered by so-called ‘zombie agreements’ – being agreements that were made before 1 January 2010 – that: the employee is covered by an agreement based transitional instrument; and the instrument will terminate on 7 December 2023 (unless an … Read more

Australia: Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Protecting Worker Entitlements) Bill 2023

Labor introduced the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Protecting Worker Entitlements) Bill 2023 (PWE Bill) into Parliament yesterday. The PWE Bill contains the second tranche of amendments to the Fair Work system. We have put together a summary of the changes proposed to the Fair Work Act and related legislation that addresses the following: making changes … Read more

Inside IR: The Australian Industrial Relations Podcast – EP1: Jobs & Skills Summit, Part 1 – Multi-employer bargaining and termination of enterprise agreements

By Rohan Doyle and Natalie Gaspar In our very first episode of Inside IR, partners Rohan Doyle and Natalie Gaspar begin their deep dive into the Federal Government’s recent Jobs & Skills Summit. We look at some of the key areas of focus coming out of the Summit, namely the proposal to limit the ability … Read more