Australia: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) – more than the financial bottom line

There are some who argue that the only way to survive the next wave of innovation will be to better understand and engage with our natural, social and financial resources. Richard Branson, in his bestseller “Screw Business as Usual”, exhorts us to stop doing business as usual, as it is wrecking the planet, and to transform companies into a force for good. Michael Porter, the acclaimed Harvard Professor, has been talking in recent years […]

By | October 27th, 2014 ||

Australia: Three surprising unfair dismissal cases

Employers should be aware of three recent cases where employees were found to be unfairly dismissed in arguably surprising circumstances.

In Anderson v Thiess Pty Ltd [2014] FWC 6568, Mr Anderson was summarily dismissed for sending a work email that was highly offensive to persons of the Muslim faith. Despite finding that the email was in clear breach of Thiess’ policies and had the potential to cause significant reputational damage to Thiess, the Fair Work […]

By | October 27th, 2014 ||

Australia: Making someone redundant whilst on parental leave – is it automatically grounds for a discrimination claim?

No!

A recent decision has highlighted that an employee’s absence (whether on parental leave or some other form of leave) can, in the right circumstances, lead to the conclusion that that employee’s position is not in fact required.

In the relevant case a female employee alleged that she was “targeted” by management as a consequence of her pregnancy, the birth of her child and her parental leave, and that her redundancy was “manufactured” rather than being […]

By | October 26th, 2014 ||