The changes to employment legislation you should know!

Alright, updated employment legislation time! There are a few changes afoot, so let’s get stuck into it to give you the details you may need to be wary of.  

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RIGHT TO DISCONNECT

This is a brand new one for Australia. From Monday, employees at businesses with more than 15 staff will now have the right to disconnect.  

This means that they can now refuse to check, read, or respond to any work-related messages, calls or emails, outside of work hours. This also includes responding to third party contractors.  

The easiest way to think of this one is, an employee can now rightfully leave their laptop at work for example and choose not to respond to anything outside of business hours if they so choose to.  

So, if you’re a business that does require some out-of-hours contact, it’s vitally important that you take a look at the new law here and look at where the line may need to be drawn going forward.  

For the full run down on the new right to disconnect laws, jump in here HERE.  

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CHANGES TO CASUAL EMPLOYMENT

There are changes in the casual employment space coming into play on Monday as well. Most notably including the change to the definition of casual employment, the process in going from a casual employee to a permanent employee, and new penalties that can be enforced for dismissing a permanent employee and re-engaging them as a casual employee.  

The new definition of a casual employee is as follows:

A person is a casual employee of an employer if:  

1. an offer of employment made by the employer to the person is made on the basis that the employer makes no firm advance commitment to continuing and indefinite work according to an agreed pattern of work for the person; and the person accepts the offer on that basis; and the person is an employee as a result of that acceptance.

This is an adjustment helps define that there is no commitment to ongoing work from either the employee or employer in the future to mitigate risk of back payments owing if the employee is determined to be permanent down the track.

The way a casual employee moves to a permanent employee has also been altered.

Now, employees in a non-small business will have a right to write to their employer on why they should be converted to a permanent employee after 6 months of employment (this must be 12 months in a small business however) if they no longer feel they meet the criteria of a casual employee.  

There are several steps the employer must then take which you can find HERE for the full run down.  

There are also new penalties for terminating a permanent employee and re-engaging them as a casual. The rules have tightened on this one for employers and fines could apply, so jump in HERE and read the breakdown.  

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THE REST

When it comes to independent contractors, there are also a few new changes and you can jump in HERE to read about those, like a new definition, sham contracting and opt-out changes!  

So there you have it, some changes that may apply to you. It’s important to note that the new right to disconnect legislation is only in play for businesses with 15 or more employees, with this law coming in for small businesses next year on August 26, 2025.  

If you want more info, feel free to hit us up!