There have been a range of recent legal developments that affect safety and human resources decision-makers. Further information on these developments is available by clicking on the hyperlinks below or at www.sparke.com.au
Dismissed health & safety representative loses immunity claim
In Kaskol v TNT Australia Pty Ltd [2015], the Fair Work Commission (FWC) was asked to determine whether or not a terminated employee's actions constituted misconduct, or whether he was acting in his statutory role as a HSR and was therefore immune from complying with his employee obligations. In a win for employers, the FWC held that employees acting in statutory roles are not immune from compliance with their ordinary employee obligations. Click here to read more...
Proposed changes to taxation of employee share schemes: good news for start-ups
The Commonwealth Government has released draft legislation to amend the taxation arrangements of employee share schemes. By unwinding the restrictive rules introduced by the former Government in 2009, the legislation introduces wider tax concessions for share and option schemes, which aim to make the schemes more internationally competitive and supportive of start-ups in Australia. The proposed changes are a welcome relief to the cumbersome tax rules currently in place. Click here to read more...
FWC clarifies what it means to be bullied "at work"
A Full Bench of the FWC has clarified a central concept in the anti-bullying jurisdiction established under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), that is, what it means for a worker to be "at work" when the bullying conduct occurs. For the purposes of the anti-bullying jurisdiction, a worker being "at work" will cover both the performance of work at any time or place by the worker and the worker being engaged in some other authorised activity. This decision makes it clear that to enliven the FWC's anti-bullying jurisdiction, there must be an actual connection between the bullying conduct and when the worker is "at work". Click here to read more...
The Heavy Vehicle National Law: one year on
On 10 February 2014, the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator introduced the Heavy Vehicle National Law 2012. The law's introduction of the concept of chain of responsibility has resulted in greater transparency and has improved public safety and compliance. Further benefits introduced by the national law include the removal of red tape and duplication caused by the overlap of previous state laws. Click here to read more...
Proposed short-term mobility visa
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection has released a proposal paper into the review of skilled migration and temporary activity visa programs. The proposal would see the creation of short-term mobility visas of up to 12 months for specialist overseas, skilled workers, which may include intra-company transfers and foreign correspondents. This visa subclass will apply to personnel required for specialised work that is in Australia's interests, such as executives coming to Australia to set up divisions and subsidiaries of their businesses, or software developers creating specialised programs for Australian companies. Click here to read more...
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