Australia: Federal Court finds new whistleblower protections will not apply to detrimental conduct occurring before the commencement date of 1 July 2019

On 1 July 2019, the amended form of Part 9.4AAA of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Corporations Act), which sought to provide whistleblowers with greater protection than its predecessor, came into force. These amendments also repealed the specific whistleblowing protections in the Banking Act 1959 (Cth), Insurance Act 1973 (Cth), Life Insurance Act 1995 (Cth) … Read more

Asia Employment, Pensions and Incentives Update December 2020

It’s the final Asia EPI e-bulletin of the year, and what a year it has been! Our Asia Employment, Pensions and Incentives update this month covers: the recent Court of Appeal judgment in Singapore, which considers what amounts to confidential information and what a business must show to claim damages for a breach; the changes … Read more

UK: new Government consultation on non-competes

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has opened a consultation exercise into the use of non-compete provisions, and potentially other forms of restrictive covenants, by employers in contracts with their staff, including workers and other forms of atypical arrangements. This is the second time in the last few years that the Government has … Read more

UK: European Court of Justice ruling on collective redundancies threshold raises doubts over UK approach

The European Court of Justice has ruled that employers have to look both backwards and forwards from an individual dismissal to determine whether the threshold number of 20 redundancies to trigger information and consultation obligations is met over a 90 day period.  The ruling conflicts with the UK forward–looking approach which focuses on the employer’s … Read more

Australia: Industrial Relations Reforms: The arrival of the Omnibus

Fair Work Act changes for the COVID recovery Following a gestation of seven months, the Workplace Relations Reform: Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Bill 2020 has finally reached the Federal Parliament. In the cold light of day, and relative to the size and scope of the matters considered by the working … Read more