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If you're not a national system employer, your employees do not have rights under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth)
The Federal Court of Australia (the Court) recently found that international cabin crew employees who were employed by foreign entities that worked on international Jetstar flights flying to and within Australia are not covered by the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the Act) and the Aircraft Cabin Crew Award 2010 (the Award). Background Jetstar used a combination of Australian and overseas residents as cabin crew on its aircraft for international services. Two foreign entities in Thailand and Singapore had arrangements with Jetstar to provide Jetstar with cabin crew (foreign cabin crew) from Thailand and Singapore. The foreign cabin crew would fly to and from Australia on Jetstar's international services. They also sometimes worked on flights between Australian cities as part of Jetstar's international operations. Proceedings were brought by the Fair Work Ombudsman (the Ombu...
7 August 2014Do workplace Investigations by lawyers attract legal professional privilege?
The Federal Circuit Court (the Court) recently found that an employer waived legal professional privilege attaching to a report produced by the employer's lawyers. The report was produced following a workplace investigation. The employer's decision to terminate the employment of the employee arose from the findings in the report. Background The employee brought a general protections application alleging, amongst other matters, his employment was terminated because he had exercised a workplace right. The employee made an application, as part of those proceedings, for the disclosure of material including the lawyer's investigation report. Doutta Galla Aged Services Ltd (the Employer), defended the application on the basis that the report was subject to legal professional privilege and as such, was not required to be disclosed. Prior to terminating the employment of the employee, the Employer, arrange...
4 August 2014'Ticking all the boxes' critical in gaining enterprise agreement approval
Recent Fair Work Commission decisions re-affirm that if you don’t 'tick all the boxes' associated with pre-approval requirements, it may result in enterprise agreement not being approved. The first decision Under the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act) before employees are asked to vote in favour of or against the proposed enterprise agreement, employers are required to ensure that employees have 7 clear days access to the proposed enterprise agreement and any incorporated material (the Access Period). In this matter, the employer forwarded an email to eligible employees on 11 December 2013 advising them that: the Access Period had commenced at 10.30am that day; and voting for the proposed enterprise agreement would commence at 11.00am on 18 December 2013. The Fair Work Commission found in determining the access period, there must be 7 clear, entire days. Part days cannot be included. Accordingly, the appropriate date for the vote to commence i...
28 July 2014