HR Perspective (Australia) | 2020 in Review: The Year That Was, Wasn't, and Felt Like It Was Never Ending

This program covers the following topics in Australian labor and employment law:

Whistleblowing

• Covers the changes to the legislation that govern whistleblowing in Australia
• Covering the changes seen in practice since new laws were enacted including confidentiality and anonymity, protection from detriment, and other protections

Industrial manslaughter

• Cutting through the media hype and outlining the facts around industrial manslaughter
• Providing an overview of the jurisdictional industrial manslaughter laws
• Victoria being the latest state to bring their laws online, there was an overview of the underlying duties, in greater detail
• Tests for industrial manslaughter vary between Australian states, so the basic and consistent criteria is analysed

Wage theft

• New "wage theft law" have been introduced in Victoria and Queensland
• Media have been reflecting the large number of employers self reporting underpayments
• With an active regulator, there have been increased FWO funding and a new Compliance and Enforcement Policy
• While the utility as a legislative vehicle is still being explored, underpayments is an important area of focus for Australian employers
• Dishonesty is the concept on which these new laws are built, and Victoria has added recklessness
• With the FWO as the active regulator, it is important to be proactive, and a process for this is covered

Redundancies

• The decisions in the Broadlex Services Ltd v United Workers Union [2020] FCA 867 and Berkeley Challenge Pty Ltd v United Voice [2020] FCAFC 113 cases are discussed, because of their surprising decisions
• Delivery lessons where a reduction in hours may amount to repudiation of the contract and the risks of relying on the continuity of contracts to maintain their workforce

Sexual harassment

• Issues where covered relating to the:
  • Respect @ Work Report 2020
  • High Court of Australia and the serious findings
  • COVID-19 and the working from home environment and its impact on sexual harassment
  • How #metoo has continued to see the media cover high profile workplace sexual harassment cases
• How you can create a culture of change

Remote working

• Given that no one expected to be working from home for such a prolonged period a number of issues are appearing
• Safety is a focus, with WHS laws continuing to apply when an employee is working from home
• Workplace entitlements, including NES and award conditions and how they continue to apply
• Flexibility versus productivity

2021 what's in store

• Considering casual employment, modern awards, enterprise bargaining, work/life balance, workforce restructuring and returning to the office