Redundancies – don’t risk costly repercussions to your organisation

As tough economic times are forcing corporations across Australia to lay off staff in mass redundancies, HR professionals must successfully navigate an employment law minefield, or risk costly repercussions for their companies.

Recently, Australia’s workforce is reeling from a string of corporate redundancies, such as the death of retail giant Dick Smith which saw 3,000 jobs lost from its Australian and New Zealand operations, while mining giant Rio Tinto is expected to slash up to 700 local jobs from its WA operations in coming months.

Fairfax Media had shared plans to cut 120 editorial jobs and newspaper reports claim that telco giant Optus plans to axe about 1,000 workers in a $215 million cost-cutting exercise.

Employers must ensure that any redundancies are fair and lawful, by complying with the terms of each individual employment contract. Any employers that fail to comply with these obligations can be slapped with a range of penalties, from individual claims for unfair dismissal or breach of contract to larger claims regarding breaches of civil remedy provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth).

Returning to 2016 is Akolade’s 11thWorkplace Law Fundamentals seminar, brings together some of Australia’s leading law firms and in house counsel’s to share best strategies to overcome complex workplace issues.

This year’s conference examines recent case law examples to explain imminent changes and develop practical and legal information required to mitigate the risk of workplace claims and disputes.

The best part of my job as a Conference Production Manager is to create and manage my own conferences from concept to delivery, identify future conference topics as well as giving me a chance to expand my business card collection. Having a bit of a sweet tooth, you will always find me having lollies on my desk or you will catch me browsing on fashion sites during lunch breaks.