By Murray Procter and Ben Keenan Are you an employer in an office-based, “low risk” industry? Does your first aid kit consist of a few bandaids and paracetamol for the occasional paper cut or headache? Is work health and safety near the bottom of a long list of...
The future of BOOT and Loaded Rates in Enterprise Agreements
By Murray Procter and Ashlee Miller Around one-third of all employees in the Australian labour market are covered by enterprise agreements.1 Enterprise bargaining is a central feature of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act), and is regulated by Part 2-4. The objects...
Amendments to Act to make enterprise bargaining less technical?
The enterprise agreement making process requires adherence to strict legislative steps before employees are allowed to vote on an agreement. Some may recall the difficult lesson learned by Peabody Energy in 2014, when its hard fought enterprise agreement was scuttled...
Findings & Forecasts: Major Developments in Industrial Relations in the Building and Construction Industry in 2018 & 2019
By Murray Procter and Ben Keenan Following the upheaval experienced by employers in the construction industry in 2017 as a result of the commencement of the Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Act 2016 (BCIIP Act) and the Code for the Tendering...
Managers on notice about the potential personal costs of unlawful disciplinary decisions
By Murray Procter and Ben Keenan The ongoing high profile legal dispute between the former Managing Director of the ABC, Michelle Guthrie, and the national broadcaster is merely the latest example of the reputational and financial cost to employers that can arise...
The Evolving Climate of Labour Hire in Australia
By Murray Procter and Ashlee Miller In 2002, the Australian Government Productivity Commission estimated there were approximately 270,000 people employed through labour hire, which was the equivalent to about 2.9 per cent of all employed persons.1 Today, labour hire...
What can employers expect in the workplace relations space from a Labor government in 2019?
By Murray Procter and Ben KeenanAustralia is due for a federal election in the first half of 2019. Industrial relations remains one of the few policy areas in which key differences remain between the major political parties. We look at Labor’s agenda and how it may...
CK Advises power generation enterprise Taiwan Power Company on Bengalla Joint Venture interest
In a deal that was completed on 3 December 2018, ClarkeKann's Chairman, John Toigo, represented Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) in the acquisition of part of Wesfarmers’ interest in the Bengalla Coal Joint Venture. Taipower is an integrated electrical power utility...
CK Alert Update: Serving Notices under s 408 of the Environmental Protection Act (Qld)
In late September, the Queensland Court of Appeal handed down its judgement in Albion Mill FCP Pty Ltd v FKP Commercial Developments Pty Ltd [2018] QCA 229. This came in response to an appeal by Albion Mill FCP Pty Ltd (“FCP”) against the Supreme Court’s findings in...
CK Alert: Contract Indemnities – why the fuss?
Indemnities are regularly used in contracts in order to allocate risk between contracting parties. An indemnity is an agreement to cover loss and damage suffered by another party. Indemnities give rise to a form of contingent liability, the magnitude of which is often...
Small business loans: it’s not so “take it or leave it” anymore!
By Chris Kintis and Elle Zhang In March this year, ASIC published a report on how the unfair contract terms regime applies to loans made to small businesses. Generally, a loan contract will fall within this regime if at least one of the parties has fewer than 20...
IP Licences and Shareholder Agreements: A commercial legal perspective
IP licensing is growing in complexity as digital solutions involving Internet of Things (IoT), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) become more prevalent. A shareholders agreement is a key cornerstone for protecting, and ultimately realising,...