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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 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,...
By Murray Procter and Ashlee Miller Employers around Australia are grappling with the effect of a recent decision of the Full Federal Court1, which found that employers must pay annual leave to wider categories of employees than previously thought. This wider...