Lewis Holdway News
In the Gig Economy, some have stopped giggling
A recent decision by the Fair Work Commission (‘FWC’) found that a former Foodora rider was an employee rather than an independent contractor as purported by the delivery platform and therefore entitled to unfair dismissal protection. The decision of Joshua Klooger v Foodora Australia Pty Ltd could have far-reaching impact for other gig economy companies…
New Family Violence Website
National Legal Aid has recently launched a website called “Family Violence Law Help” for people affected by family violence. The website contains comprehensive information on various aspects of family violence, family law and where you can get help. You can access the website here. Family violence is behaviour that controls someone or causes someone to…
Salary Sacrifice – Does it apply to Employment Termination Payments?
We recently acted for a Not For Profit organisation in a Fair Work Commission dispute. There was an issue related to the payment of an Employment Termination Payment (‘ETP’) to the terminated employee, namely whether ETPs can be salary sacrificed? Salary Sacrifice Arrangement A salary sacrifice arrangement (‘SSA’) or salary packaging or total remuneration packaging…
Lewis Holdway welcomes new lawyers, Reshma Farrer and Adren Choon
We are delighted to announce that Adren Choon and Reshma Farrer have been admitted to practice as solicitors at the Supreme Court of Victoria. Lewis Holdway Principals, Natalie Fielding, Paul Holdway and John Wardlaw, said it was exciting for the firm to witness and facilitate the development of Adren and Reshma after both completing combined Bachelor…
Is This The End of Trading Names?
The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) is working with the Australian Business Register (ABR) to retire the use of trading names in Australia. After 31 October 2018, trading names will no longer be displayed on the ABR (including the ABN Lookup). Trading names in the ABR A trading name refers to an unregistered name that businesses could use before the…
Get it in writing: why high stakes agreements are best written up.
The recent case of Pipikos v Trayans [2018] HCA 39 is a sage reminder that you are safest when your agreements are in writing. In this case, Ms Velika Trayans had bought a property in 2002 at Clark Road, Virginia South Australia (“Clark Property”) with her then husband George. In 2004, George’s brother, Mr Leon…
It’s time: dismissal resulting from change of roster
What happens when an employee wants to change their hours due to study commitments? What happens if your employer cannot make reasonable adjustments to grant the request? The recent decision of Hoult v Belgravia Health and Leisure is a timely reminder to all employers that requests to reduce hours by employees don’t have to be…
Increased Penalties Under the ACL
The Australian Consumer Law (ACL) has been amended to increase the maximum penalties that can be handed down for breaching the ACL. The increase came into effect on 1 September 2018. Previously, companies faced a maximum penalty of $1.1 million per consumer law breach and individuals faced a maximum penalty of $220,000 per breach. The amendments are…
Shift Cautiously: Leave calculations under review
A recent decision of the Fair Work Commission (FWC) has raised serious questions regarding how leave should be calculated. In short, the Full Bench of the FWC decided that a shift workers leave should be calculated based on the hours worked in a shift and not based on standardised hours of 7.6 per day. For…
Let’s not drink to that – termination valid for drunk employee at Christmas party
The recent case of Vai v Aldi Stores is a warning to employees that after-hours misbehaviour can lead to termination of employment. In this case, Vai threw a glass of beer over the heads of colleagues at a staff Christmas party. This incident occurred after the employee had been counselled by managers to settle down…
Pedalling Uphill: Failure to give notice puts a brake on unfair dismissal
In the recent appeal decision of Miller v Urban Pedaler [2018] FWCFB 4166, the Fair Work Commission has sent a stark warning to all employers that raising performance issues and informing an employee that they are at risk of losing their employment must be dealt with appropriately. Background of Case In this case the Employer…
Parental Leave – Pay it or else
The decision of FWO v Noorpreet Pty Ltd is a decision that should put all employers on alert in relation to paid parental leave. The case was a prosecution undertaken by the Fair Work Ombudsman after an employer failed to pay an employee her government parental leave entitlements for more then five months. The employer…