Lewis Holdway News
Crackdown on Underpayment of Wages
Federal Parliament is foreshadowing strong new penalties for employers who underpay their workers, including the introduction of criminal penalties. Recent Cases Underpayment has hit the headlines recently as George Calombaris has been ordered to pay a fine of $200,000 for the underpayment of $7.8 million. The penalty of $200,000 has been labelled as inadequate by…
Employers Beware: The Privacy Act and Employee Data
By Micaela Manning Did you know that the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) could apply to personal information that you collect from your employees? At the start of their employment, you collect lots of information from your employees: contact details, their previous employment history, academic record, medical information, superannuation details and bank account details. Once they…
Lewis Holdway is pleased to announce
Lewis Holdway Lawyers is pleased to announce the appointment of Nahum Ayliffe, Senior Associate in the Dispute Resolution practice group and Arthur Athan, Lawyer in the Family Law practice group. Nahum Ayliffe is an experienced dispute resolution lawyer with a focus on complex insolvency and commercial disputes. With qualifications in commerce and law, Nahum advises…
Protecting Your Name – legal names, business names, trademarks and domain names
By Reshma Farrer One of the most valuable assets for businesses is their name. It is how customers know who you are and whether they can trust you. However, often businesses have more than just one name – they could have their legal name, business name, trademark or domain name – and each of…
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…