Contractual Benefits Archives - MDC Legal

Overtime and Reasonable Additional Hours

Changes to modern award annualised salary clauses

Posted by | Articles, employment contracts, modern award, modern awards, polices and procedures | No Comments

By Mark Cox, Director and Renae Harg, Senior Associate 

New annualised salary clauses for a number of modern awards come into effect as of 1 March 2020. The annualised salary clauses increase the obligations on employers in relation to modern award annualised salaries, including notifications to employees, increased record keeping obligations and reconciliation of the amounts paid.

Read More

What are your New Year’s Resolutions? New Year resolutions for employers in 2019

Posted by | casual staff, Contracts, HR Advice & Support, modern award, pay rates, polices and procedures, Policies and Procedures, training | No Comments

By Joanna Knoth, Senior Associate and Renae Harg, Senior Associate

Now that the festive season is over, employers can focus on the year ahead. What New Year’s resolutions are you making for your business?
Below are some practical New Year’s resolutions that may minimise your employment law risks.

Read More

Keeping it casual: Casual employee entitled to annual leave

Posted by | complaince, Contracts, contractual entitlements, HR Advice & Support, leave entitlements, modern award | No Comments

By Renae Harg, Senior Associate and Lauren Wright, Lawyer 

WorkPac Pty Ltd v Skene [2018] FCAFC 131

The Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia has rejected WorkPac’s argument that the “industrial meaning” of the term “casual employee” has been incorporated into the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the Act) for the purpose of the National Employment Standards (NES).

Read More

Are you being underpaid? Are you underpaying your staff?

Posted by | Articles, complaince, Contracts, contractual entitlements, HR Advice & Support, modern award | No Comments

By Nikita Barsby, Special Counsel and Lauren Wright, Lawyer

The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) recently conducted an audit of businesses throughout the eastern states of Australia which found that 72% of the businesses had breached workplace laws.[1] The audit resulted in the recovery of $471,904 for 616 workers across the 234 businesses audited. The most common breach was an underpayment of hourly rates, followed by non-existent or inadequate employment records.

Read More

Directing an employee to attend an independent medical assessment

Posted by | contractual entitlements, Dispute Resolution & Advocacy, HR Advice & Support, leave entitlements | No Comments

By Mark Cox, Director, Gemma Little, Associate and Lauren Wright, Lawyer

The winter months often bring an increase in employees’ use of personal leave, primarily due to illness. An employee’s brief and temporary absence, whether due to illness or even injury, supported by adequate medical evidence, can usually be managed by the employer without issue.

However, difficulty and uncertainty arise where an employee takes extended personal leave with medical evidence that has little or no detail on the illness or injury suffered, or which offers no foreseeable return to work date. An employee’s extended absence can pose significant issues for the management and operation of a business. Navigating this situation can become increasingly complex if an employee has taken personal leave in response to a disciplinary or performance management process.

Read More

MDC Legal Win for Employer Against Large Bonus Claims

Posted by | Articles, Contracts | No Comments

By Ruth Collins, Lawyer 

MDC Legal has successfully defended an employer against an employee’s claims for unpaid visa expenses and bonuses exceeding $200,000. The applicant, Mr Bradley, was employed by the respondent, Binder Group Pty Ltd, as their WA Industrial Sales Manager and later as its National Sales Manager from July 2011 to April 2015. After resigning from his employment, Mr Bradley brought proceedings in the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission (Commission) against Binder Group alleging that he was owed contractual benefits. All of Mr Bradley’s claims were rejected by the Commission.

Read More