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Changes to the unfair dismissal remuneration cap, national minimum wage, minimum award rates and filing fees

Introduction New award rates, unfair dismissal thresholds and other changes in the employment arena have been announced, some of which commence from 1 July 2021. These are some of the main changes. Unfair dismissal threshold (high income threshold) and maximum compensation cap The high income threshold will increase from the previous $153,600 to $158,500 from 1 July 2021. This means employees whose annual rate of earnings is $158,500 (which excludes statutory superannuation) or more, and who are not covered by an award or enterprise agreement, are unable to pursue an unfair dismissal application. The change also means that the maximum compensation that can be awarded for an unfair dismissal claim will increase from $76,800 to $79,250. National minimum wage The national minimum wage will increase to $772.60 per week or to $20.33 per hour (calculated on the basis of a 38-hour wee...

29 June 2021

New legislative requirement for employers to give casual employees casual employment information statement

As part of the recent amendments to the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act), there is a requirement for employers to provide every casual employee with the Casual Employment Information Statement (CEIS). The CEIS contains information on how a casual employee is defined; casual conversion; and the Fair Work Commission’s role in resolving disputes regarding casual conversion. The CEIS is different to the Fair Work Information Statement. For new casual employees, that is casuals who were employed on or after 27 March 2021, the CEIS must be provided to the employee before, or as soon as practicable after, the employee starts employment. For existing casual employees, that is casuals who were employed before 27 March 2021: small business employers (being those with less than 15 employees) are required to provide the CEIS to their existing casual e...

31 May 2021

Mondelez has been ‘overturned’ – High Court confirms approach to calculating personal/carer's leave

In welcome news for employers, the High Court has today overturned the Full Federal Court’s decision in Mondelez. By majority, the High Court rejected the ‘working day’ construction adopted by the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia. The majority judgement of the High Court decision said that the “the expression '10 days' in s.96(1) of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) means an amount of paid personal/carer's leave accruing for every year of service equivalent to an employee's ordinary hours of work in a week over a two-week (fortnightly) period, or 1/26 of the employee's ordinary hours of work in a year. A 'day' for the purposes of s.96(1) refers to a 'notional day', consisting of one-tenth of the equivalent of an employee's ordinary hours of work in a two-week (fortnightly) period.” In short, the High Court has determined that a permanent employee’s entitlement to personal/car...

13 August 2020