Recent articles
Independent Contractors: Recent Development in the Law
On 18 March 2025, Elizabeth Devine presented a paper on 'Independent Contractors: Recent Developments in the Law' to Legalwise Seminars' Employment Law Symposium in Sydney. The question of whether a worker is, or should be, [...]
Independent Contractors: Recent Development in the Law
On 18 March 2025, Elizabeth Devine presented a paper on 'Independent Contractors: Recent Developments in the Law' to Legalwise Seminars' Employment Law Symposium in Sydney. The question of whether a worker is, or should be, [...]
Mental Health and Injuries in the Modern Workplace
On 21 February 2025, Elizabeth Devine will be presenting a paper on 'Strategic Adjustments: Addressing Mental Health and Injuries in the Modern Workplace' at The Education Network's 10th Melbourne Employment Law Conference. In her presentation, [...]
High Court decision – $1.44 million in damages awarded for psychiatric injury arising from an employer’s failure to follow its own procedure
On 11 December 2024 the High Court of Australia (High Court) handed down its decision in the matter of Elisha v Vision Australia Limited [2024] HCA 50. That matter concerned the question of whether damages [...]
Article Archive
AN ARCHIVE OF ALL THE ARTICLES
Wage theft laws commence!
On 1 January 2025 the wage theft provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Act) commenced. For the first time in Australian employment law, it is a criminal offence for a national system employer to not [...]
Right to Disconnect provisions take effect
The right to disconnect provisions in the Fair Work Act 2009 (Act) and in modern awards commenced on 26 August 2024 for businesses with 15 or more employees. In the lead up to the commencement [...]
Casual employment – expanded definition in the Fair Work Act 2009 takes effect
The question of whether a worker is a permanent or casual employee is a perennial issue in Australian employment law. The longstanding law has been that an employee may not be merely labelled a casual [...]
Mental Health and Injuries in the Modern Workplace
On 2 August 2024, Elizabeth Devine presented a paper on 'Strategic Adjustments: Addressing Mental Health and Injuries in the Modern Workplace' at The Education Network's 16th Annual Employment Law Conference at the Imperial Hotel on [...]
Changes to national minimum wage, modern award rates of pay and unfair dismissal threshold
On 1 July 2024 the national minimum wage decision made on 3 June 2024 took effect. This resulted in a 3.75 percentage increase to the minimum wage (now $915.90 week/ $24.10 per hour). The same [...]
Sex Discrimination – AHRC power to investigate breach of positive duty takes effect
From 12 December 2023 onwards, the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has the power to investigate and hold inquiries into employers who allegedly fail to comply with their duties in relation to unlawful sex discrimination. [...]
