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The Victorian Government Legislates Against Bullying
While Occupational Health and Safety legislation and contracts of employment already contain obligations on employers to ensure that employees are not subjected to workplace bullying, the Victorian Government on 5 April 2011 introduced legislation to State Parliament to make it clear that serious bullying is a criminal offence carrying a penalty of up to 10 years in jail. The Crimes Amendment (Bullying) Bill 2011 (Vic) provides that threats and abusive words or acts can be a course of conduct that amounts to stalking, as can any other action that could reasonably be expected to cause physical or mental harm to the victim. The definition of “harm” caught by the offence includes self-harm and suicidal thoughts. Changes will be made to similar legislation to allow victims of serious workplace bullying to apply for intervention orders, thereby allowing a victim to seek an order to protect themselves against situations of serious bullying at an early stage. ...
12 May 2011Making Sense of the Contractor vs. Employee Relationship
In a recent decision of the Federal Court (On Call Interpreters and Translators Agency Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Taxation (No 3) [2011] FCA 366 (13 April 2011)), Justice Bromberg has tried to simplify and clarify the test for whether a person is an independent contractor or an employee. He did so after observing that workers and those who employ workers require more clarity from the law, especially when legislation demands that there be no misrepresentation of the nature of the relationship. After detailed consideration of the relevant authorities and the “totality test”, Justice Bromberg stated: “Simply, expressed, the question of whether a person is an independent contractor in relation to the performance of particular work, may be posed and answered as follows: Viewed as a “practical matter”: Is the person performing the work an entrepreneur who owns and operates a business; and, In pe...
12 May 2011Paid Parental Leave – Employer Obligations from 1 July 2011
The Paid Parental Leave scheme is governed by the Paid Parental Leave Act 2010 (Cth). The Act creates a number of obligations on employers and from 1 July 2011, employers must comply with the Act or risk civil penalties of up to $33,000 per breach. We outline some key questions and answers in relation to the scheme below. Who is Eligible for Paid Parental Leave? Full-time, part-time, casual, seasonal, contract and self-employed workers may be eligible. A person must have worked at least 330 hours, (just over one day a week) for 10 of the 13 months before the baby is born or adopted to be eligible. A person must also satisfy the income test, be an Australian resident, be the child’s primary carer, not have returned to work and not be entitled to the baby bonus to be eligible. Eligible working parents may get up to 18 weeks government funded pay at the National Minimum Wage, currently $569.90 a week before tax. An emplo...
12 May 2011