overview
Employment law in Australia is not a simple picture.
An employee may be under Federal or State Awards and the Awards themselves can be incredibly long and very complex.
They have evolved over decades and each particular Award presents the results of hard-fought negotiation, different advantages and pays.
The old “Wrongful Dismissal Tribunal” is not as readily available to workers as there are restrictions on the jurisdiction being applicable to businesses with a small number of employees.
However, there are still Government Departments to which workers can go very cheaply.
As the press has revealed “back pay” can be enormous!
It is always best to accurately determine what Award your employee is under and make sure you equal it or better it in terms of the employment “deal”.
As a worker has to be careful as to provisions such as “probation periods” and “restrain of trade” clauses that can restrict you on exiting.
Unfortunately, both sides of the employment fence can very readily end up in a Tribunal, Court or the subject of a Government enquiry and it will be expensive.
Pre-planning is the secret to employment law.