CCH Australia

By Amber Wood, Associate, People + Culture Strategies (Part 1 of this article appeared earlier this week) Unfair dismissal Failure to investigate allegations of bullying was a key issue in the recent unfair dismissal case of Adam James Harley v Aristocrat Technologies Australia Pty Ltd [2010] FWA 62. In this case, Mr Harley successfully argued that he was [...]

Are we there yet? The 2010 election has come and gone and as of today we still don’t know who will form the next Australian government. And now Twitter has a new hashtag for the long wait to hear the result: #auswaits. Its been an interesting few weeks observing the goings on from the sidelines. The social media [...]

By Amber Wood, Associate, People + Culture Strategies On 17 June 2010, WorkCover NSW launched a nine-month anti–workplace bullying campaign targeting employers in the retail, hospitality, manufacturing, health and education sectors. The very next day, a high profile CEO resigned from his position following an allegation of sexual harassment. In an unprecedented move by a board of [...]

By Amber Wood, Associate, People + Culture Strategies On 17 June 2010, WorkCover NSW launched a nine-month anti–workplace bullying campaign targeting employers in the retail, hospitality, manufacturing, health and education sectors. The very next day, a high profile CEO resigned from his position following an allegation of sexual harassment. In an unprecedented move by a board of [...]

By Dr Denise Meyerson, Director of Management Consultancy International I have attended a few conferences lately and have been appalled at the level of presentations. This is a personal plea not to fall into that category of dry, boring presentations that literally send people off to sleep! You have the knowledge and you have the subject matter [...]

By Anna Modrak, Clayton Utz Competition Group* All corporations and organisations in Australia should be paying attention to the David Jones sexual harassment case, because, if it succeeds, there will be a new, and quicker, path for making claims of sexual harassment. The claims being made by Kristy Fraser-Kirk are based on alleged breaches of the [...]

Despite both major parties downplaying workplace relations and promising to hold off on further reforms if elected, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) continues to campaign against the perils of Work Choices should the Coalition come to power. In ads reminiscent of the lead up to the 2007 election, the ACTU asserts that the Coalition [...]

One benefit of working in publishing is the occasional escape from Sydney for three days in country Victoria to become steeped in what is both the art and science of commercial printing. Seven CCH’ers attended the “Communication in Print” client training seminar run by McPherson’s Printing Group, Australia’s leading book printer, in Maryborough, Victoria, in July. The [...]

An order to pay almost half a million dollars to an employee who was the victim of sexual harassment has been upheld by a full court of the Federal Court. The employer was also ordered to pay 90% of the employee’s costs. A woman (P) claimed she had been sexually harassed on several occasions by co-workers. [...]

Ever since its introduction a little more than a decade ago, Division 7A in the Income Tax assessment Act 1936 Act has been an unmitigated ambush for companies and their shareholders. The intent of the Division was to prevent shareholders extracting company benefits without being subjected to top–up taxation (above the company rate of 30 percent). Subsequently [...]