your people our focus
your business success our goal

You may be a business with no existing HR function, or you may already have a HR function requiring support, a greenfield site or an international organisation setting up in Australia. Whatever your circumstances our services are designed to identify the gaps and provide solutions with the right systems and support to suit the size, maturity and cost structure of your business.  Of course we understand each business is unique, so we tailor our solutions and support to meet your needs.

• Audit your existing HR structure and practices
• HR programs providing affordable modular best practice  
• Maintenance contracts providing ongoing specialist HR support
• Set up your HR function - Greenfield start ups a specialty
• Scalable Outsourcing of your HR function
• Conversion of international terms & conditions to Australian Industrial Relations format

We have a proven methodology to support you and your team.

| 6 Common Mistakes Companies Are Making

Many organisations face the perplexing issue of not knowing what they don’t know.  Due to growth and many daily priorities we face in business it is easy to make mistakes in the HR and employment law arenas and not be aware of it. The time you do become painfully aware is when there is a dispute with an employee and the various commissions and tribunals sit in judgement. The penalties can range from fines, to jail terms for Directors and using the defence “I was not aware your honour” is not accepted in any of the jurisdictions.

We have selected just a few of the common mistakes small to medium companies are making, and if it is any consolation the large corporates often make them too.

Ignoring the Award System:  Years of back pay.
Many employers think that if they pay above the award then they are not bound by the Award. Unless you have an industrial instrument in place ( Certified Agreement ), you are bound by all terms and conditions of the award. If you have not paid attention to that detail your employees could claim back payment of those conditions not followed.  This can be obviously costly and crippling to business.

Tolerating Bullying: Council ordered to pay $200,000.
A council employee’s supervisor subjected him to a series of harassing humiliating behaviours such as telling him he wasn’t much use, singling him out to perform menial, dangerous and seemingly unnecessary tasks, harassing him for eating an orange and for complaining of illness. The employee eventually suffered a nervous breakdown and was psychiatrically assessed as being unlikely to ever be able to work again. The council was found to be vicariously liable for the supervisors actions and ordered to pay $200,000 in damages (Carlile v Council of the Shire of Kilkivan and Brietkreutz)

No OH&S System in Place: In NSW Maximum Fine 1.6 million on corporation and $165,000 on individual, jail terms for Directors up to 5 years.
 If you don’t have the policies, procedures, hazard identification and prevention measures and emergency evacuation procedure in place and it is proven as a result you recklessly caused a death, as a director you can face jail time. If it was shown that you had everything in place and an accident occurred then the courts take a more lenient view and the penalty adjusts accordingly if you “used all due diligence to prevent the contravention by the corporation”.

Out of Date Policies:  Sued for not sticking to policy.
The Federal Court of Australia has confirmed that provisions of workplace policies and procedures may be regarded as terms of an employee’s contract of employment. This has serious implications. As an employer you may not be able to vary your policies without consent from your employees. If you as an employer do not abide by your own policies your employees may sue for breach of contract.  This decision makes it so important for companies to distinguish between the terms of the contract of employment, the employee handbook and policies.

Ignoring The Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cth) Maximum Penalty per breach $33,000
Under the federal Act, the Workplace Authority provides protection for employees by monitoring compliance with the new legislation and enforcing the new penalty provisions.

The Workplace Authority can enforce penalties for breaches of:

• a term of the Australian Fair Pay and Conditions Standard (the Standard);  
• a term of a workplace agreement;

• a term of an award or order of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC);
• meal break entitlements;
• public holiday entitlements;
• extended parental leave entitlements; or
• an unauthorised stand down.

Penalties can also be sought for breaches of:

• workplace determinations;
• undertakings about redundancy and other post-termination terms and conditions; and
• various provisions of the Workplace Relations Act (WR Act) and Workplace Relations Regulations 2006 (WR Regulations).

A Workplace Authority inspectors my take legal action on an employee’s behalf for breaches of the above industrial instruments or provisions of the WR Act or the WR Regulations.

Probationary Periods in Contracts:
It is quite simple to have a well worded three to six month probationary clause included in your contract of employment. This enables you to terminate the employee if they are not performing. In a recent decision in I Hope and Tradeflex Services Group Pty Ltd, the ex employee made a claim his termination was harsh unjust and unreasonable but as his contract had a clause of a six month probation the case was dismissed.
You could be lucky and never have an issue, but then again you could.