Legal Updates

Award Minimum Wage and National Minimum Wage Increase From 1 July 2022, minimum Award wages have increased by 4.6%, subject to a minimum increase for adult Award classifications of $40 per week (based on a 38-hour week for a full-time employee). Junior Award rates that are based on adult minimum wages, will get a proportionate […]

In this article, we discuss the new Award clause on annualised wage arrangement and some IR changes the new Labor government planned to implement.Annualised Wage Arrangement Under the Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020, an employer and a full-time employee in the classification of Support Services employee Level 8 or 9 (for instance Practice Manager)

In this circular we discuss what employers can do to manage personal/sick leave and to reduce absenteeism. Permanent employees are entitled to take paid personal/sick leave (up to 10 days per year for full-time employees and pro-rata for part-time employees) when they are ill or injured, when they need to care for an immediate family

In this article we will discuss different types of contracts, focusing on fixed-term contracts. To recap, permanent employees can be full-time (38 hours per week) or part-time (37 hours per week or less) and they will accrue leave benefits such as annual leave and personal leave. With casual employees you will have flexibility with their

Many Practices employ casual employees. There are good reasons for this. Having casual workers provides significant flexibility for Practices since they can adjust their staffing levels quickly in response to changing circumstances. For example, in order to cope with changes in demand or COVID-related shutdowns. That does not mean that employing someone as a casual

In one of our previous circulars, we discussed the legality of implementing a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy for staff at your Practice. Our position was that, at that point in time, it was unlikely that a mandatory vaccination policy would be considered a ‘lawful and reasonable direction’. As such, we recommended Practices err on the

  From 1 July 2021, minimum award rates (as well as the national minimum wage) will increase by 2.5%.  If you are paying staff the minimum rates based on the Health Professionals and Support Services Award, it is very important that you increase them to avoid non-compliance. By way of example, if you employ a new Receptionist who

From 1 July 2021, the superannuation guarantee rate will increase from 9.5% to 10%. What does this mean for your Practice? In short, it means that Practices will now have to pay 10% superannuation for your employees instead of 9.5%. Most practices can expect to pay this increased rate on top of your employees’ base

In this article, we are revisiting the age old question: is your Associate a contractor or an employee? We will discuss why this question matters; examine a recent case which clarifies that invoicing does not in itself avoid employment; and give a brief overview of which factors to look at in determining whether someone is a

In this circular we discuss the upcoming change for Hygienists. From 1 July 2021, Hygienists working at private practices will be covered by the Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020. This is a major change for employers as historically Hygienists were specifically excluded from the Award. We suggest employers provide new contracts to Hygienists