Knowledge

Chances are at some point in your life you have had a ‘casual’ job.  For many, casual employment is synonymous with a summer job.  However, casual working arrangements have become more common in the fast-developing gig economy, where employers and labour-hire companies require workers intermittently for very short periods.  While employment on a casual basis […]

In simple terms, the premise of an employment relationship is that an employer pays an employee for work performed.  So, it should be easy to define what ‘work’ is, right?  Throw in on-call requirements, ‘zero hours’ contracts and a pandemic and the answer is no longer clear cut. In this article, we look at the […]

As of 11:59pm tonight (4 April 2022), Government-enacted vaccination mandates and Vaccine Pass requirements will lift for the education, police, defence and hospitality sectors.  Considering this change, WorkSafe has sent a clear message that employers can only justify a requirement for a role to be performed by a vaccinated employee under very limited circumstances.  We […]

Remote working, flexible hours and the ‘great resignation’ are hallmarks of the modern work environment.  They are also factors which impact how bullying occurs in the workplace and our ability to spot and define bullying behaviour.  In the final article of our series, we consider how changes to the way we work have shaped or […]

The Government has made an announcement about changes to the COVID-19 Protection Framework and vaccination mandates.  Here is what employers and employees need to know. Vaccination mandates Vaccination mandates in the education, police, defence and hospitality/close contact industries will end from 11.59pm on Monday 4 April 2022. Mandates remain in place for health, aged care, […]

In the previous article of this series, we considered an employer’s obligation to an employee who makes an allegation of workplace bullying.  Often employers are good at supporting the complainant, yet they forget that there is someone else who is being impacted by the complaint and that is the person who has been accused of […]

In any bullying complaint there are at least three parties involved: the complainant (the person raising the complaint) the respondent (the alleged ‘bully’) and the employer.  In this article, we focus on employers’ obligations to employees who have raised an allegation of bullying – from the moment the complaint is received and beyond.   Consider […]

Following on from our previous article, where we discussed the prevention of workplace bullying, we now turn to the steps a manager or leader can take when bullying happens or is alleged.  The most effective response will be one that is consistent with workplace policies and wider employment law obligations (which can become a minefield […]

Many articles regarding bullying focus on what to do when it happens.  Of course we will cover that as part of our Workplace Bullying Series, but as they always say … prevention is better than cure … so this article looks at what prevention measures employers can put in place. For organisations to provide a […]

Workplace bullying.  What is it? What do you do when you feel you are being bullied?  What do you do if you have been accused of being bullied?  As an employer what do you do if your employee complains about workplace bullying and how do you prevent workplace bullying? Our six-part series addresses all of […]