From the beginning of 2014, the new anti-bullying provisions under the Fair Work Act 2009 (‘FWA’) came into effect in an attempt to stamp out workplace bullying, and although the Fair Work Commission is unable to make compensation or damages orders, it can make a ‘stop-bullying order’ and a contravention of that order can give...
We take the opportunity to remind you all of the serious implications your social media accounts, in particular Facebook, can have on any court proceedings to which you may be a party. The Family Court has shown an increasing inclination in recent months to accept evidence obtained from Facebook when deciding cases about: where/whom the...
Misunderstandings over the obligation to protect people’s privacy can often lead to legal action when businesses make the wrong decision about their use of people’s personal information. The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) establishes National Privacy Principles that apply to all private sector organisations with an annual turnover of more than $3 million, health service providers,...
It is quite common for spouses to enter into what is known as a ‘mirror will’, which essentially provides that their estate will go to each other when they die, and when the remaining spouse passes away, it will go to their children. However, what many people don’t realise is if they do not put...
Legislative amendments to the Privacy Act 1988 came into effect last month, and with a focus on changing the ‘negative credit reporting’ system previously implemented in 1991, the legislative amendments have introduced what is known as ‘comprehensive credit reporting’. Prior to the amendments, a copy of your credit report would have shown a list of...
In a recent Federal Court case, an employee brought an action for discrimination and sexual harassment against a contractor (who was engaged by her employer and allegedly sexually harassed her), the contractor’s employer and her own employer. When discussing the matter, the Court found that even though the contractor and the applicant were not ‘fellow...
Do you need to lodge a Caveat? It is important to understand that when you separate, whether you were married or in a de facto relationship, if there is ‘real property’ involved, such as the marital home or an investment property, then you may need to act quickly to protect your interests in that property if...
As a consumer, you are covered by a range of basic guarantees when you acquire or purchase goods or services from suppliers, manufacturers or importers within Australia (if they were purchased on or after 1 January 2011). The Australian Consumer Law outlines nine (9) guarantees that apply to goods, including that: they are of acceptable...
Our Gold Coast Lawyers have recently had a large amount of enquiries concerning the rights of employees following dismissal. Our previous publications have discussed employee actions under the Fair Work Act 2009 (‘the Act’), such as unfair dismissal, genuine redundancy and general protections claims, however, there are circumstances where employees cannot bring these actions against...
