Employment Law – SXSW Legal

Choosing the Right Workplace Lawyers for Your Firm

The right workplace lawyers can provide significant assistance throughout the workplace, dealing with things like employment termination, contract review, and harassment claims. If you run a large business, it’s essential to form a relationship with a professional law team to ensure you’re protected from lawsuits and other legal issues.

However, it can be difficult to know exactly which lawyers to use. There are numerous different law firms out there, and finding the right one can seem like an impossible job. With this in mind, we’ve put together the following list of top things to consider when choosing the right workplace lawyers.

Look at Their Experience

One of the first things to consider when you’re choosing a new workplace lawyer to work with your firm is their experience. Although less experienced lawyers are generally more affordable, cheaper isn’t always better.

If you’re dealing with serious amounts of money and are part of a large reputable business, it’s important to use a lawyer who knows exactly what they’re doing. And in the end, a more experienced team will be able to work faster, which generally offsets the higher fees they charge.

In the end, you need to find the right balance between experience and affordability for your business.

(more…)

Fines for Property Company Regarding Workplace Law Breach

A company in South Australia has been fined $29,790 in total, by the Adelaide Federal Circuit Court. The Fair Work Ombudsman declared that two men from the state accepted a job as a sales representative with a property company, but were not properly paid . The company is Longridge Group Pty Ltd, which is located in Adelaide, and deals with residential properties.

They had been advertising the position as having a salary potential of $120,000 and more. However, the first man left the position after 10 months, when he had only earned $7,000. After the first man left, another man accepted a job with the company, believing that his earning potential would be above $70,000 annually. After six months had passed, he left when he had not been paid a thing.

Longridge Group was given the fine after the Fair Work Ombudsman took legal action against them. The company had been paying the men with nothing but commission, in the years of 2011 and 2012. They admitted that this had been the case. This arrangement resulted in the men being underpaid a combined total of $24,956, which would have been the minimum award payments.

(more…)

Wage and Hour Division: Are They Paying You Right?

Majority of us would like to make more money than we are currently making in our jobs; however a few among us might even be satisfied by their current wages. Nevertheless, there are some who do not get paid enough for all the efforts they put in. To make sure that nobody is treated unfairly, there is a criterion set for a minimum wage. This is mentioned in the Fair Work Act of 2009. This act is responsible for regulating and keeping an annual check on wages and if you are unsure you could check a lawyer’s list and then engage a lawyer to help you.

The yearly minimum wage is reviewed according to the rules and regulations listed in part 2-6 of the act. The minimum wage panel is a branch of the Fair Work Act that sets the minimum salary that must be given to any worker. This panel reviews and set wages on a national level which are later approved for awards and agreements. For legal advice regarding unfair dismissal or workplace rights, you will need to consult an employment lawyer if you wish to seek legal advice.

When we talk about wage and hour division, five things should be taken into account:

Normal load and rate of pay
Maximum standard hours of work
Parental Leaves
Personal Leaves
Annual Leaves

These national employment standards are also working on adding needs such as flexible working times, public holidays, termination notice periods, unemployment pay, community service leaves, and long service leaves.

(more…)

All You Need to Know about Workplace Discrimination and the Legal Actions Taken Against It

Every workplace may consist of many kinds of people, coming from different backgrounds, which makes it a diverse place for interaction. However, not everyone appreciates this diversity and this might result in discrimination against a particular group. At the workplace, discrimination occurs when biased decisions are made against people based on something, which is not under their control. These decisions can be related to promotion, hiring, termination, retribution, reward, assignment of a task, or any other work related scenarios. You should consult an experienced lawyer if you can’t find the information you are seeking online.

Types of Unlawful Discrimination

There are several types of discrimination factors a person might come across at the workplace, which consists of age, sex, race, marital status, religion, nationality, physical disability, sexual orientation or preference, political affiliation and anything else, which is beyond the control of an individual.

Adverse Actions

This includes any discriminatory behaviour. It can be an employee’s dismissal, harming an employee during the course of their employment, changing their position in order to harm them, giving preference to other employee over them, rejecting hiring a potential worker, or modification in the employment offer based on discrimination.

Laws and Legal Actions regarding Unlawful Discrimination

State and federal laws have been put in place to protect the employees and improve the workplace environment. Acts such as, Occupational Health and Safety Act, Equal Opportunity at Workplace Act, Public Service Act, and Fair Work Act, are a few that deal with such harassment. Other specific laws tackle different types of harassment, which are discussed as under:

(more…)

Laws regarding Sexual Harassment at the Workplace

Sexual harassment is a type of sex discrimination. In it, the victim feels intimidated and mortified by any undesirable or unwanted sexual behavior. These sexual advances are not reciprocated or consensual. It is also highly contrary to everyday interactions, flirting or friendship among workers.

In a few circumstances, sexual harassment is against the law as stated by the Sex Discrimination Act 1984.These advances include, undesirable physical touching, sexual innuendos or remarks, requests for dates or sex, staring, sending sexual content through emails or text messages, or having journals, posters, or screensavers, which are inappropriate and of a sexual nature.

Sexual Harassment at the Workplace

Sexual harassment doesn’t have to take place at the workplace to be considered workplace harassment. Workplace sexual harassment consists of any harassment of a sexual nature; which is either during work hours, during activities of work, such as training, conferences, parties, functions or trips; or harassment that takes place away from the office but is the result of or initiated from a workplace scenario.

Sexual harassment at work can create many problems for the employees and the employers. These include; stress, employee resignation, less productivity and low self-esteem. The Equal Opportunity Act, 1984, and Work Health and Safety Act, 2012, work towards the prevention and reporting of such behaviour and look after the employees’ well-being and satisfaction with their work environment.

(more…)

Are You Getting Ripped Off at Work?

As an Australian employee, you have certain rights that ensure fair pay and treatment. Workers must be paid the right amount, when they are entitled to it. In addition, they must be given all applicable entitlements, and be treated in a fair manner while at work. It is unfortunate that employees are often taken advantage of, and not permitted what is rightfully theirs. To make matters worse, a lot of people do not know that they are being paid less than they deserve, or having entitlements withheld.

This is a guide to help employees identify whether or not they are being “ripped off”.

What Type of Employee Are You?

First, it is important to understand what kind of employee you are.

Full time workers are generally under contract to work around 38 hours each week. They might also receive benefits such as paid leave, a minimum number of work hours guaranteed each week, and minimum requires for being terminated.
Casual workers are not hired on a regular basis. They do not have a guaranteed amount of hours, or any fixed shifts. They can have their position terminated at the end of any shift. They also do not receive benefits such as paid leave, or any minimum requirements for being terminated, such as notice. To compensate for this, casual workers typically receive a higher award rate than their full time counterparts.

Where Is Your Contract?

If you are being legally employed, you have some type of work contract. This might not necessarily be in writing, however. A conversation that took place when you got the job counts as a verbal contract. It could also be made up of terms that are in writing, and which were agreed upon verbally.

(more…)

Can Your Employer Suspend You?

Most people are lucky enough to work in an environment where the employees and managerial staff get along well. Even so, people often do not agree in certain situations. When this happens, things are hopefully resolved amicably. When this is not the case, it might be necessary for a boss or manager to wish to suspend someone from work. They might even want to go so far as to suspend an employee’s contract entirely. While school principals often need to suspend children for various reasons, people might wonder if it is legal for an employee to be suspended from their job.

There is nothing in common law that gives an employer the right to suspend a worker without their pay. That includes situations where an employee’s behavior was bad enough to get them fired, if that were possible. When creating a contract at the commencement of a new position, an agreement regarding suspension can be included. If such a contract, statute, or award does already exist, an employee can be lawfully suspended from work. They might not be entitled to their wages, or be under obligation to carry out any duties in the workplace.

A suspension of an employment contract is just as it sounds: anything required by either side is formally suspended. However, the agreement might still require certain actions from one, or both, sides in the case of a suspension. It really depends on the terms of the agreement, statute, or award, as to what is required by each party. The agreement might also have stipulations regarding an employee’s right to resign, and effectively terminate the contract themselves.

(more…)

“No Idea” About Minimum Wage Laws Leads to $46,000 Unpaid Wages

A business where management claimed to have “no idea” about the laws regarding minimum wages, has been ordered to pay $46,000. This was announced by the Fair Work Ombudsman, regarding the owner of a fast-food restaurant located in Melbourne. The operator had been paying its staff below the national award rate, and told officials that they did not know about minimum wages.

A food outlet, called Mr Kitchen Box Hill, was the business in question. Between December of 2013, and January of 2015, 18 employees were paid less than they were legally entitled to. The owner and the employees had agreed to a flat rate of $17 per hour, which is $1.52 an hour less than the award rate for the fast food industry. Of the individual employees, the biggest two underpayments were $12,071 and $13,584. Chinese nationals operate the company, via DM&G Pty Ltd. It is located in the shopping centre in Box Hill.

Natalie James, the Fair Work Ombudsman, stated that the Fair Work officials believed the underpayments to be an honest mistake. They did not find any reason to believe that the operator had been paying their staff too little on purpose. They genuinely seemed to be ignorant of the laws. The limited company has complied with officials, and expressed a desire to follow the workplace regulations closely in the future. The company has signed an agreement with the Fair Work Ombudsman, which is an enforceable undertaking. This will ensure that their behaviour does comply with workplace legislation in the future.

(more…)