Underpayment is an ongoing and increasingly commonplace issue in Australia.

That having been said, in Australia there is a complex set of employment law legislation on a Commonwealth level, with some variance from State to State as well as over 100 employment awards. In addition to the assorted employment awards, employees may be covered by an enterprise agreement or another form of registered agreement, in which case the Awards don’t apply. However, this complex web of legislative obligations, agreements and awards can be difficult to navigate and not all instances of underpayment are intentional. Unfortunately for Australian employers, this opaqueness does not absolve them from understanding their obligations.

One of the most immediate issues to deal with, particularly after a sudden or acrimonious split, is who’s going to be packing their bags and finding a rental. This is a short-term issue, completely separate to the question of who will actually retain ownership of the family home – the question is only who lives where while the parties are dividing up their property.

As workers begin to head back into the office after the Christmas holidays, a new wave of COVID-19 infections has spurred more changes to the rules. These can be hard to keep up with. Here are some of the latest changes, as of 17 January 2022.

Generally, the rule in Family Law proceedings is that each party to the proceedings shall bear their own costs. However, the Court can depart from this rule and order that one party pay some (or even all) of the other party’s legal costs, if the circumstances justify it.

In this episode, Nicole speaks with Kayte Lewis from Voice Lawyers about the confronting issues of the Covid 19 vaccination and health orders in the work place.

If there are no Court Orders in place, and the parents don’t get along well enough to work out an informal solution together, problems may arise. Some parents simply decide to keep the children over Christmas, regardless of what the other parent wants – after all, who is going to stop them from spending time with their own children?

Over the last few weeks, we have received an influx of phone calls from concerned parents, about the possibility of their children being vaccinated against COVID-19. These parents fall on either side of the issue – some are eager to have their children immunised as soon as possible, while some are concerned about potential adverse effects and want to make sure their children aren’t put at risk.

Do I need to finalise my property settlement with orders? And how long do I have?

What if I dont get orders - How long after can I or my partner bring an application to the court?

Can my property orders be set aside?

On Friday, August 13 the Fair Work Ombudsman updated its advice in relation to the issue of COVID vaccination and the workplace. This topic has become quite controversial over recent weeks and looks to be posing businesses with significant issues going forward.

Over the last couple of weeks, you may have noticed a swarm of articles discussing the Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill 2021, which blitzed through both Federal Houses of Parliament in under 24 hours and was passed on 25 August 2021. It received Royal Assent on 3 September 2021.

Anyone who has had a matter in family law will usually say that the Family Law System needs to be changed. It is, and will be the biggest change in the Australian Family Law system since 1975.

Earlier this week Deliveroo won their appeal in the UK courts against Independent Workers Unions Rights in June 2021 where Deliveroo workers were affirmed as self-employed. The business investment community sent a very strong message about how they view the difference between contractors and employees. The Deliveroo share price jumped 9% by 400 million pounds.

De facto, or ‘common law’ marriage, is where a couple are not officially married, but have been living together on a ‘genuine domestic basis.’ If a de facto couple splits up, the Court may treat them the same as a married couple going through a divorce.

We received judgment this week for a client in an adverse action in the FCC. The Employer, Edition Coffee Roasters, entered voluntary liquidation after proceedings commenced. The Court found the director of the company, Mr Jackson personally liable under s550 of the Fair Work Act for the damages to our clients employment.

Many believe slavery to be a thing of the past, in fact, Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted in 1948 states, “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.” In the 21st Century, slavery has become more subtle but remains a global problem.

This is how many victims describe their existence and relationships under coercive control. A ‘strategic pattern of entrapment’ undermining self determination. Understanding coercive control is key to responding to common questions people ask about domestic violence like “why didn’t she just leave?"

Are your employees time frauds?

Family violence is a crisis in Australia. Often, women experiencing domestic violence and coercive control are vulnerable around the time of separation and divorce. 1 in 6 women have experienced physical or sexual violence from a partner. Unfortunately, this can happen in the presence of children, with 61% of women having children in their care when this violence occurs.

Gambling, reckless spending behaviour and ill-considered business dealings, giving away assets or free rent and underselling assets are all examples of behaviour we sometimes see in family law property matter and they also are circumstances the Court has determined as wasting the family finances and are taken into account by the Court in determining Family Law proceedings.

The safety and wellbeing of our beloved pets are understandably at the forefront of many of our minds at times. Domestic Violence NSW explained that perpetrators of domestic violence will often threaten to harm or kill animals to gain control in the relationship.