Obesity in the workplace isn’t a topic that gets talked about out loud very often.  But with the statistics indicating that Australians are getting bigger, it is well worth covering some issues around this. First of all, obesity will be covered as a protected attribute under the Equal Opportunity Act (Vic) 2010 under the heading […]

Do employees, or other people, have the right to smoke in the workplace anymore?  Do employees have the right to “smoke” breaks?  And I should probably make my biases clear the start – I don’t smoke, and I hate smoking! First of all it is completely employer discretion to allow smoking in the workplace, by […]

Let me start this blog post with a big, fat disclaimer first – ONLY THE FAIR WORK COMMISSION OR OTHER AUSTRALIAN COURT CAN DECIDE IF SOMEONE IS EITHER AN EMPLOYEE OR AN INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR.  There, I’m glad we got that out of the way.  However this does demonstrate the seriousness of this issue in workplaces.  […]

First of all, some annual leave basics from the Fair Work Act (Cth) 2009: It’s for permanent employees. Casual employees do not get annual leave. 4 weeks accrues in a year of service. This is pro rata for permanent part-time employees. A “shiftworker” accrues 5 weeks of annual leave per year. A shiftworker will be […]

Sick leave.  Who gets it, what should someone be doing to get it, and what can I do if I think someone is chucking sickies? First of all, some Fair Work Act basics: All permanent employees accrued 10 days per year of personal leave. This will be pro rata for permanent part-timers. This accrues if […]

Whoop!  Whoop!  Warning!  Warning! So, you took a deep breath, and finally sat down and spoke to your employee.  Cleared the air.  Finally let them know what they were doing (or not doing) wrong. It didn’t work.  The crap continued. It may well be time for an official, formal warning.  And it needs to be […]

“Have you spoken to them? Why haven’t you spoken to them?” I would hear this from a colleague on a frequent basis when she was talking to employers. We would often talk to companies about an employee who is driving everyone crazy, and everyone is telling each other about what terrible things this person is […]