Australia's leading
workplace relations specialists.

Mandatory vaccination policy

Share this:
FacebookTwitterLinkedIn

Mandatory vaccination policy

Mandatory vaccination policy

FacebookTwitterLinkedIn

The latest from FCB

View all posts
Adrian Turner

Overcoming WHS compliance complexity post COVID-19

July 27, 2022

As Australian businesses emerged into the light at the end of COVID’s dark tunnel, they are faced with fresh challenges in keeping their people safe at work. We are witnessing COVID-19’s long tail – together with the permanent shift to a ‘hybrid’ work model – fundamentally changing the operating model of so many businesses. Against the backdrop of Australia’s complex Work Health & Safety (WHS) laws, businesses are grappling with how the changing work environment shifts their risk profile and what the law requires they do to control those risks and keep their people safe at work. When contending with the changing face of the Australian workplace, businesses need not overcomplicate their risk management practices to achieve compliance. Best practice WHS compliance can be achieved by relying on tried and tested risk management practices as part of an underpinning WHS management system. Let’s dive into how. Understanding your duty of care For any employer, there should be no greater concern than the thought of workers being injured on our watch at work. It is for this reason that Australian WHS legislation imposes a legal duty of care on all persons...
Michal Roucek

Arise aged care: driving a high-performance culture in a post-COVID environment

June 29, 2022

Between 8 October 2018, when the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety commenced, and now, the aged care industry has undergone a period of reckoning like no other experienced by any other sector in the Australian economy. The industry is known for its resilience, and that can be mainly attributable to its people, where the workers are overwhelmingly passionate, caring, and genuinely believe in the dignity of elderly Australians. However, there are several challenges still facing the sector, including those which were highlighted by the Royal Commission Report, including attracting and retaining high-quality staff and creating career pathways. While paying higher wage rates and increasing staff numbers is made difficult by funding uncertainties, many of these workforce challenges can be alternatively addressed by creating a high-performance culture. As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, we find ourselves amid a unique opportunity to leverage the palpable degree of positivity in the community. So how do we drive a high-performance culture in our teams? How do we ensure that employees conduct themselves appropriately and in a first-rate manner...
Nick Tindley

Australia’s lowest-paid workers to get the biggest wage increase in more than a decade

June 15, 2022

The Fair Work Commission’s Minimum Wage Panel (FWC) handed down its decision on the annual wage review today. The decision provides an increase of 5.2 per cent to the National Minimum Wage, taking it to $21.28 per hour, effective from the first full pay period commencing on or after 1 July 2022. The increase to Modern Award minimum wages is $40 per week for classification levels with a weekly wage rate of less than $869.60 per week and 4.6 per cent for all classification levels paying $869.60 per week and above. The increases to Modern Award rates will be staggered for awards in the aviation, tourism, and hospitality industries, meaning these increases (which includes increases to the Restaurant Industry Award 2020, Hospitality Industry Award 2020 and Registered and the Licensed Clubs Award 2020), will be effective from the first full pay period commencing on or after 1 October 2022. For all other Modern Awards, the minimum rates will also increase effective from the first full pay period commencing on or after 1 July 2022. In reaching its decision, the FWC considered both economic and social factors including: a sharp rise in the cost of living; a strong improvement in the...
Matthew Robinson

Compliance during COVID-19: restructuring the employment framework to engage in a hybrid workforce model

May 31, 2022

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Productivity Commission estimated that only 8 per cent of the Australian workforce had access to regular working from home (WFH) arrangements in place. However, within weeks of COVID-19’s beachhead onto Australian shores, that number had dramatically risen to 38 per cent of the Australian workforce undertaking their work from home [1].   Without a doubt, WFH is one of the most dramatic shifts in the way Australians have performed work in the last few decades, perhaps even the last hundred years. It is unlikely that even if we are able to successfully live with or eradicate COVID-19, working from home arrangements are going to continue to form a substantial portion of how work is performed. This will have profound impacts not only on the way in which we work but also on workplace relations governance and how businesses seek to manage their operational and compliance risks.   However, this transformation has not been homogenous; there has been very little growth, if any, of workplace flexibility for blue and grey collared workers. While the pandemic has predominantly impacted these types of workers in relation to shutdowns...
Rod Marshall

Flexible working arrangements – navigating the new normal

May 31, 2022

The availability, adaptability and scope of flexible working arrangements have become a common feature of employment arrangements since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in 2020 and are now viewed as a key aspect of any company’s attraction and retention strategy. There is a significantly increased focus and emphasis on what flexibility can be offered, with an employee’s circumstances often being a critical defining factor in whether that employee takes up employment – or remains in it.  Not only is it important for flexible working arrangements to be carefully implemented and structured so that they are appropriate for a business from an organisational perspective, but employers also need to pay consistent attention to a range of work health and safety considerations in non-centralised work that must be identified, controlled, and managed on an ongoing basis.  If not an entitlement, at least an expectation  Before the pandemic, the technology allowing many employees to work from home existed — but very few workers did work remotely. However, the pandemic sparked an experiment in which workers were forced to work in decentralised teams, and many...
Brittany Byrne

What happened to Respect@Work?

April 29, 2022

In March 2020, the much-anticipated Respect@Work Report was released by the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), the outcome of an 18-month inquiry into sexual harassment in Australian workplaces. The investigation was led by Kate Jenkins, Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner, and her report outlined 55 recommendations for government, business and community sectors to consider in relation to the prevention of, and in responding to, sexual harassment.  The Respect@Work Report revealed that sexual harassment in the workplace is pervasive and widespread. A year later – about the time Brittany Higgins made allegations of sexual assault in her employment with the Federal Government – advocates across the country gathered at #March4Justice rallies, calling on the Federal Government to implement all 55 of Ms Jenkins’s recommendations. One month later in April 2021, the Federal Government responded with its ‘Roadmap for Respect’ committing to implement most, but not all, of the 55 recommendations.   On 2 September 2021, the Sex Discrimination and Fair Work (Respect at Work) Amendment Act 2021 (Respect@Work Act) was enacted...
Rod Marshall

Alexandra Sullivan has been short-listed for the Lawyers Weekly 30 Under 30 Awards 2022.

April 22, 2022

We are delighted to announce that Alexandra Sullivan, Senior Associate in the FCB Workplace Law Sydney team, has been announced as a finalist in the LawyersWeekly 30 under 30 Awards in the Employment & Workplace Relations category for 2022. The Lawyers Weekly 30 Under 30 Awards is the premier event in showcasing the depth of talent in the nation’s young gun lawyers, recognising their success and their passion for the business of law. The finalist list, which was announced on Wednesday, 20 April, features over 270 high-achieving professionals across 31 submission-based categories. Reaching the finalists stage is regarded as an incredible achievement across the Australian legal industry, showcasing the depth of dedication and commitment each individual brings to advancing the industry. Lawyers Weekly editor Jerome Doraisamy said: “There is no bigger or better celebration of the myriad achievements of Australia’s emerging generation of leaders in law. “With the market looking ahead to a post-pandemic landscape, and the nature of legal service delivery still evolving, it is increasingly challenging for young legal professionals to make their mark...
Nick Tindley

Gazing into the crystal ball: employment and industrial relations in 2022

March 12, 2022

Having come out of the most unpredictable and tumultuous two years of most of our lives, we had hoped that 2022 would bring stability and a return to something like normal. Omicron has changed this, at least for the moment. In addition, the world of employment and industrial relations is rarely stable and 2022 looks likely to bring change that will impact every business.  So, what can we expect? Gazing into our crystal ball, we think it is likely we will see:  Federal and State legislative change.  Award changes.  Significant decisions.  Legislative change  Naturally, the extent of national IR legislative change will hinge on the 2022 Federal Election outcome. A Coalition win is unlikely to result in any substantial changes to the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (Act), although the makeup of the Senate, post-election could encourage the Coalition to take another run at the changes that were proposed early in 2021, in particular in relation to enterprise agreements and compliance and enforcement.   On the other hand, an ALP win is very likely to result in significant change in a number of matters, including in what the union movement describes as insecure work – casual and...