Are you a business owner requiring advice and assistance with employing staff?

Or are you an employee that has been terminated on unfair grounds?

Shire Legal have specialists who can assist you with:

Contracts of employment

• An employment contract is an agreement between an employer and an employee which sets out the terms and conditions of the employment.
• Each contract must provide for at least the legal minimum set out in:
  • The National Employment Standards (NES); or
  • awards, enterprise agreements or other registered agreements that may apply to the particular type of employment.

• All employees are covered by the NES, regardless of whether they’ve signed a contract.
• The National Employment Standards are 10 minimum employment entitlements that have to be provided to all employees:
   
  • Maximum weekly hours
  • Requests for flexible working arrangements
  • Parental leave and related entitlements
  • Annual leave
  • Personal carers leave and compassionate leave
  • Community service leave
  • Long service leave
  • Public holidays
  • Notice of termination and redundancy pay
  • Fair Work Information Statement

• We can review your particular employment situation and advise you as to whether you would be considered an employee or a contractor, irrespective of what your actual employment contract states.
• We can also advise you in relation to who owns the intellectual property of the work created in the course of employment - the employer or the employee?
• Employment also requires consideration of various rights and obligations arising under other legislation - such as the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth).

Restraints post-employment

• Following your resignation, dismissal or redundancy, you may be restrained from working in a certain industry or location for a set period of time.
• Such restraints need to be reasonably necessary to protect the employer’s commercial interests.

Termination

Employees - Have you been terminated?  Is a threat to terminate being made by your employer for any reason?  Has your employer followed correct procedures? Note that an unfair dismissal application must be lodged within 21 days of the effective date of termination - so you need to act quickly.

Employers - Do you wish to terminate an employee?  Be sure to follow correct procedures.