When it comes to labour legislation as regulated by Fair Work Australia, small business is treated somewhat in a different manner. As stated by this government workforce regulatory department, small business is any enterprise with 15 (fifteen) or a smaller number of workers. The number is calculated based on a basic headcount of all employees consisting of temp and casual workforce which are engaged regularly.
More separating the difference between small to medium and large enterprises, government has developed what’s called a small business fair dismissal code which basically stipulates that employees aren’t capable of making an unfair dismissal demand in the first year of their work commencement.
Should the employee be dismissed subsequent to one year of the start of their employment and the employer has stuck to this particular program, the dismissal will be thought to be reasonable. A further condition that would prevent a staff member from commencing an unfair dismissal claim happens when the company experiences a downturn or the position isn’t required.
Just like any size company, should redundancy be on the agenda, it must be fair and genuine meaning that the role is no longer available in that department or it has been moved to a different location for example. Australian employment so called Fair Work Act contains specifications that needs to be met for a redundancy to be regarded as authentic.
There are occurances where a worker can be instantly terminated without notice or warning and such include once an organisation has sensible evidence to believe that employee’s conduct was major in nature. These severe misconducts can incorporate violence, fraud, thievery and breaches of occupational health and safety (OH&S) guidelines. In some instances, business owners can see fit to report certain occurrences to law enforcement.
For all other incidents in which an instant firing is not necessary, a small business employer is compelled to give a worker a warning with a reason why their employment in the company might be under threat. The warning should really be based on either employees inappropriate conduct or their incapability to fulfill the position requirements. This warning can be delivered in a verbal yet most appropriately and ideally in writen form.
Just like any conflict, an employee ought to be offered a chance to respond to the caution and additionally be provided with opportunity to address the issue. The issue rectification procedure may involve more training, guidance and follow up meetings on regular basis. Employee is additionally supplied an option to have a different individual present during the meetings so long as that individual is not appearing in a capacity as an employment attroney.
McArdle Legal are employment and unfair dismissal lawyers located at 5/192 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW 2000, aid individuals and businesses fix their industrial law disputes in addition to deliver mediation services.