Latest publications
Will illegal downloaders be forced to pay their dues and join the Club?
In Brief On 7 April 2015, the Federal Court of Australia handed down a landmark ruling involving piracy and privacy, and internet account holders with the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) involved may be feeling nervous. Dallas Buyers Club LLC v iiNet Limited [2015] FCA 317 Dallas Buyers Club LLC, the entity claiming ownership of the…
Unions are not above the law
In Brief In a very recent decision of the Federal Court, the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) had damages awarded against it of $482,000 and was ordered to pay a fine of $80,000 for refusing to allow a couple to start work with a labour hire company. The labour hire company that refused to…
Moonlighting employees it can be difficult to stop
In Brief There can be a number of particularly important reasons why employers need to know whether an employee is working elsewhere and also the nature of that work. In a recent decision of the Fair Work Commission (Bril ‑v- Rex Australia Limited), Vice President Hatcher found that the implied duty of fidelity…
Can you require an employee to provide medical evidence or attend a psychiatric examination?
In Brief From time to time employers will be faced with an employee whose behaviour suggests that they may have an underlying medical condition affecting their mental health. Behaviours which may for example indicate depression include: irritability, lack of concentration, lateness for work and unexplained periods of absence. Whilst there are…
Claims made by a person deprived of land title by fraud
In Brief In Australia, we use the Torrens system of land title. It is a central tenet of the Torrens system that it is a system of title by registration, not a system of registration of title. It is registration itself which vests title in a proprietor of land. Section 42(1) of the Real Property…
Swearing at a boss, is it always a sackable offence?
In Brief In a recent decision by the Fair Work Commission, Deputy President Wells found against the company that summarily dismissed an employee for abusing the managing director of the company. The company was an SME and the managing director and the garbage truck driver were having a telephone conversation which got heated…
Redundancy… is it still a more convenient way of removing a difficult employee?
In Brief Removing staff that are not performing can be a protracted and convoluted process. For a long time, employers have often seen redundancy as an avenue for side stepping the various disciplinary/counselling sessions/warnings that have to occur prior to an employee being terminated for poor performance. The beauty of the redundancy…
Landlords beware — Incentive claw-back provisions deemed to be penalty clauses
In Brief The recent Supreme Court of Queensland decision of GWC Property Group Pty Ltd v Higginson & Ors affirms the long-held but (until now) untested fear that the ubiquitous claw-back provisions which accompany most incentive provisions may very well constitute a penalty clause. What is a penalty provision? The modern law of penalty provisions…
“Who really brings the game into disrepute?”
In Brief A public spat. A drunken fall. A scathing comment. Professional athletes, like many of us, occasionally do careless and reckless things. Unlike many of us, however, professional athletes are often fined exceedingly large amounts of money, suspended or terminated from their employment for doing these things. And you can almost be…
They just don’t get on… but what can I do?
In Brief It can be a really difficult situation for an employer when two staff members simply do not get on. Neither is necessarily at fault or, alternately, both of them are. But what can an employer do? An employer is not able to make people like one another and their…