Date: Tuesday, 20 November 2018
Time: 10:30am to 11.30am
Venue: Kott Gunning Lawyers, Level 8, AMP Building 140 St Georges Terrace
Format: light refreshments will be served
Cost: Register on Eventbrite for this free event or email events@kottgunn.com.au
Discussion groups are an informal, roundtable exchange of ideas, advice and information. This discussion group focuses on recent developments on what constitutes a casual employee.
In Workpac Pty Limited v Skene [2018] FCAFC 131 (Skene), the Full Federal Court upheld a decision that an employee, who was classified as a casual but worked a regular roster for over a year, is in fact a permanent employee. Many employers, their representatives and of course politicians, have expressed deep horror and outrage at this decision. This is because in spite of being paid a loading, the employee is now entitled to all the entitlements that come with permanent employment, namely annual leave, sick leave and the like.
In response to the decision, we note that one business leader said this could result in “back pay claims for annual leave of at least $8 billion”. That same business leader went further saying that “the costs involved could drive many businesses, small and large into insolvency”.
So the question is – did the full court get it so badly wrong? Should employers and most importantly their industrial relations and legal advisers have foreseen such an outcome? If not then why not?
Read the article Has the casual employee relationships gone the way of the dinosaur?
Who should attend?
- company secretaries
- business owners and CEO’s
- governance, risk and compliance professionals
- managers
Speaker
Mike Baldwin, Special Counsel – Employment Law and Workplace Safety, Kott Gunning Lawyers
Mike leads Kott Gunning’s Employment and Workplace Safety practice. He has over 20 years of experience as a Workplace Relations lawyer and Industrial Relations (IR) professional. Mike has top tier legal and employer association experience (AiG, MBA) in addition to working as in-house counsel for several international resource companies. He gives advice across all aspects of the employment relationship for clients of all sizes and is experienced across multiple industries including construction, mining, oil and gas, manufacturing, education and retail.