Following the Australian Prime Minister’s announcement on 18 April 2017 that the 457 visa will be abolished and replaced with a new Temporary Skill Shortage visa from March 2018, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection has issued further information on the upcoming changes that will  impact the 457 visa programme.  Additional legislative and policy changes may also be released in the future. The 457 visa programme (with some changes) will remain in effect until…

The Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, announced yesterday afternoon that the 457 visa will be abolished and replaced with a new Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa to better address genuine skill shortages and protect the Australian local labour force.  The implementation of these reforms will begin immediately and will be completed in March 2018.…

The Supreme Court of Victoria’s decision of Jurecek v Director, Transport Safety Victoria [2016] VSC 285 clarifies the application of privacy law to an employee’s social media account, specifically in relation to an employer collecting and using information gathered from an employee’s Facebook account when investigating misconduct.…

The new national code for the tendering and performance of building work 2016 (Code 2016) commenced on 2 December 2016 to coincide with the re-establishment of the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC). The governing legislation is the Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Act 2016 (Act). The Code 2016 applies to building contractors carrying out building work from the first time they submit an expression of interest or tender for Commonwealth funded building work…

A series of recent cases demonstrates that the Fair Work Commission (FWC) will, with increasing frequency, revoke or suspend union entry permits following findings of contraventions of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act).  So far this year, in 3 separate cases, the FWC has suspended or revoked the entry permits of 7 officials of the CFMEU following findings that the union officials misused their right of entry permits.  See Fair Work Commission v Roberts…

A worker who injured herself when she went for a run whilst working from home has had her application for workers compensation dismissed, but only on the basis that the injury did not occur during an ‘ordinary recess’. Background In Demasi v Comcare (Compensation) [2016] AATA 644 (26 August 2016), the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) heard that the applicant took a break from her work at 9.45am (on a day when she was working from…

Last month, the Fair Work Commission upheld a decision to dismiss an employee for breaching its zero tolerance policy on illicit drugs, confirming the importance of having a clear drug and alcohol policy that is effectively communicated and consistently applied. The employer, Coles Group Supply Chain Pty Ltd (Coles), summarily dismissed Shane Clayton who tested positive to cannabis, in breach of Coles’ drug and alcohol policy, which clearly stipulated cut-off levels of alcohol intake and…