The employee made multiple bullying allegations covering a period of approximately 3 years. Amongst those allegations she claimed that: the first day she met the manager that the manager yelled and screamed at her in the office; she was detained against her will when...
Two ex-employees of the appellant Lifeplan, a company engaged in the business of fund management and the provision of investment products including funeral bonds and pre-paid funeral products, joined Foresters, another friendly society in late 2010. Foresters’...
The coach and the organisation had entered into a contract in 2015 which was expressed to be a voluntary services agreement. The contract stated that the relationship between the parties to the agreement was not an employment relationship, although the organisation...
When is an Independent Contractor an Employee? Recent media interest in the prospective class action against Appco Group Australia raised the difficult issue of when is an independent contractor actually an employee? From an employer’s perspective, it may in certain...
Reasonable Management Action Trumps Bullying Claim A manager recently was successful in satisfying the Fair Work Commission that anti-bullying orders were not required because his actions were, on the whole, reasonable and lawful management actions. The employee had...
Accessorial Liability and HR Advisers – Don’t Get Caught in the FWO’s Net In a recent speech to the Australian Human Resources Institute, the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO), Natalie James, warned people working in human resources management and recruitment that they could...