HR compliance

Featured image showing a workplace team collaborating, representing psychosocial risk management, psychological safety, and WHS compliance in Australian workplaces.

Managing Psychosocial Risks in the Workplace: Why a Policy Alone Won’t Protect You

Compliance /

What’s the real issue?  Having a psychosocial health and safety policy is not the same as managing psychosocial risk and regulators increasingly treat the gap as a breach. The most common mistake we see is treating this as an HR document rather than a WHS obligation owned by senior leadership exactly the “Band-Aid solution” the Model Code of Practice warns against.  A […]

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Manager discussing a flexible work request with an employee across a desk, with legal symbols including scales of justice, a gavel, and hybrid work icons representing Australian workplace flexibility and Fair Work compliance.

Flexible Work Requests: What Recent Fair Work Commission Decisions Require of Employers

Compliance /

What’s the real issue?  Since the 2023 changes to the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), how you handle a flexible work request now matters as much as whether you say yes or no. Under section 65B, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) can now arbitrate refused requests — and order you to grant one anyway if you did not follow the

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Professional working on a laptop with a shadow silhouette and digital security icons representing AI governance, privacy, and employment risks in the workplace.

Shadow AI in the Workplace: How Australian Employers Can Manage the Governance, Privacy and Employment Risks

Compliance /

Shadow AI is the use of artificial intelligence tools by employees for work — without the employer’s knowledge, approval or oversight, usually through public generative AI chatbots opened straight from a browser.  The answer is not a blanket ban, which simply drives use underground. The answer is governance: a clear AI acceptable-use policy, staff training, clear data rules, human

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Featured image showing a calculator, financial documents, and payroll calculations, representing annualised salaries, set-off arrangements, payroll compliance, and employee wage entitlements under Australian employment law.

The Salary Trap: What the Coles and Woolworths Decision Means for Annualised Salaries and Set-Off Arrangements

Compliance /

If you pay an annual salary to award-covered staff, the Coles and Woolworths underpayment decision should be on your radar. Paying a generous salary that “washes out” over a year is no longer enough: a set-off must satisfy award entitlements in each pay period — not on average across the year. That point redraws the compliance map for Australian

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Featured image showing a balance scale with employee figures, a vacant office chair under a magnifying glass, and redundancy symbols, representing reasonable redeployment assessments during a genuine redundancy process.

Reasonable Redeployment in Genuine Redundancy: Why “No Vacancies” Is No Longer Enough After the High Court’s Helensburgh Decision

Compliance /

When you make a role redundant, can you rely on the fact that there were simply no other jobs going? Not any more.  Following the High Court’s 2025 decision in the Helensburgh Coal matter, “reasonable redeployment” under section 389 of the Fair Work Act now reaches beyond a list of vacant positions — in some cases it extends

Reasonable Redeployment in Genuine Redundancy: Why “No Vacancies” Is No Longer Enough After the High Court’s Helensburgh Decision Read More »

Featured image showing an open office doorway leading to a workplace, symbolising an employee's return to work, injury recovery, workplace reintegration, and employer responsibilities under Australian employment and WHS laws.

Return to Work Under Pressure: Managing Injury, Capacity and Employer Risk in the Australian Workplace

Compliance /

Managing ill and injured employees is one of the highest-risk tasks any Australian employer faces. When a worker is injured or falls ill, several legal regimes switch on at once — and they don’t always agree. Get it right and you protect your people and your organisation. Get it wrong and one termination can trigger multiple claims.  Here’s how to do it —

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Featured image showing workplace investigation documents, a clipboard checklist, office files, and a pen, representing procedural fairness, workplace investigations, and compliant HR processes.

Workplace Investigations Done Right: How to Protect Your Organisation Through Process, Procedural Fairness and Privilege

Compliance /

A well-run workplace investigation is one of the strongest risk-management tools an Australian employer has. Done properly, it gives you a defensible basis to act on misconduct. Done poorly, the investigation itself becomes the liability — often costing more than the original complaint.  The difference comes down to process: right scope, procedural fairness, privilege considered early, and

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Featured image showing a clock and office telephone symbolising the critical first 48 hours after a serious workplace incident, highlighting the urgency of employer response, WHS compliance, and incident management.

The First 48 Hours After a Serious Workplace Incident: An Employer’s Response Plan

Compliance /

When a worker is killed or seriously injured at work, the first 48 hours shape everything that follows — your legal exposure, your standing with the WHS regulator, the wellbeing of your people, and your ability to defend any future prosecution. The best predictor of a good response is having an incident-response plan ready before anything happens. 

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Featured image showing a manager reviewing probation documents with a new employee, representing probation management, performance discussions, and employer obligations under the Fair Work Act.

Probation Done Properly: What Employer Obligations Under the Fair Work Act Really Mean

Compliance, Uncategorized /

Probation is not a legal safe zone. Ending employment during probation removes unfair dismissal exposure — but not a general protections claim, a discrimination complaint, or a breach of contract. Getting the fundamentals right keeps you out of trouble.  What’s the real issue?  Employers routinely confuse two very different things:  A contractual probation period — a creature of contract

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Featured image showing balanced scales with HR, legal, and psychological safety symbols, representing the intersection of employment law, WHS obligations, and psychosocial risk management in Australian workplaces.

When HR Decisions Become WHS Risks: Managing the Intersection Between Psychosocial Safety Law and Employment Law

Compliance /

Performance-manage an underperformer, restructure a team or investigate a bullying complaint, and you are no longer working within employment law alone. That decision now sits inside your work health and safety duty — and a process that is perfectly lawful under the Fair Work Act can still expose you under WHS legislation.  The answer is not to

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Featured image showing a diverse team of employees collaborating in a workplace meeting, representing employer leadership, workplace respect, and proactive prevention of sexual harassment under Australia's positive duty laws.

The Positive Duty Explained: How Australian Employers Prevent Sexual Harassment at Work

Compliance /

The biggest shift in Australian sexual harassment law is not a new penalty or complaint form. It is a change in who must act, and when.  Under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth), employers now carry a positive duty — a proactive, ongoing obligation to take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate sexual harassment, sex discrimination, sex-based harassment, hostile work environments and victimisation, so far as possible. 

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Featured image showing legal scales, a shield with people icons, workplace documents, and silhouettes of employees, representing general protections claims and Fair Work Commission case management for Australian employers.

General Protections Claims: What the Fair Work Commission’s New Case Management Means for Australian Employers

Compliance /

The Fair Work Commission has overhauled how general protections claims are run, and the shift favours prepared employers. Representation is decided “on the papers” before conference; out-of-time applications are triaged before you are served; conciliation is a fast 60-minute, resolution-only session; and a new Early Dispute Resolution (EDR) pilot tests informal settlement calls soon after lodgement. The reforms reward preparation

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HR professionals discussing Queensland Child Safe Laws, Child Safe Standards and employer compliance requirements.

Queensland’s Child Safe Laws: Everything Employers Need to Know

Compliance, Uncategorized /

I want to start with a number. 28.5%. That is the proportion of Australians who have experienced child sexual abuse, according to the 2023 Australian Child Maltreatment Study. Of those, approximately 75% experienced it more than once. These are not rare events. This is not a problem confined to certain families or certain communities. This

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Two professionals shaking hands in a modern office while discussing employment terms and pay arrangements.

Loaded pay rates: a tempting handshake that can land you in serious trouble

Uncategorized /

At a franchisor presentation last night, a franchisee asked me a question that I suspect plays out in workplaces across Australia every single day.  A promising candidate negotiates a higher hourly rate. The employer agrees — and to keep things simple, says the rate also covers the tool allowance and annual leave loading. Everyone shakes

Loaded pay rates: a tempting handshake that can land you in serious trouble Read More »

Three business professionals collaborating in a modern office meeting with laptops, documents, and financial reports on the table.

What Employers Need to Know About the FY26/27 Australian Federal Budget (A practical briefing from Harrisons for Australian employers )

Uncategorized /

The 2026–27 Federal Budget was handed down on 12 May 2026, and while much of the headline commentary focused on tax cuts and cost-of-living relief, there is a lot in this Budget that Australian employers need to be thinking about right now.  This is not a Budget of broad incentives. It is a Budget of

What Employers Need to Know About the FY26/27 Australian Federal Budget (A practical briefing from Harrisons for Australian employers ) Read More »

Two business professionals reviewing workplace compliance documents in a modern office ahead of major Australian employment law changes taking effect on 1 July 2026.

What’s changing on 1 July 2026 — and what to do about it before it lands

Compliance, Uncategorized /

Every July brings a wave of workplace law changes. Most years you can absorb them with a payroll update and a quick policy review. 2026 is not that year.  The changes landing on 1 July 2026 are structural — not cosmetic. They alter how super is paid, how parental leave is funded, what counts as

What’s changing on 1 July 2026 — and what to do about it before it lands Read More »

Underpayments and record-keeping compliance risks for Australian employers under Fair Work laws

Underpayments and Record-Keeping in Australia: What Recent Fair Work Cases Mean for Employers

Uncategorized /

Recent Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) enforcement action highlights a clear and growing risk for employers: underpayments and poor record keeping in Australia remain some of the most common — and costly — compliance failures. Across multiple Federal Court outcomes in December 2025, businesses were penalised for breaches involving wages, payslips, and employment records. These cases

Underpayments and Record-Keeping in Australia: What Recent Fair Work Cases Mean for Employers Read More »

HR manager reviewing pay and award compliance documents in Australia

Pay and Award Compliance in Australia: A Back-to-Basics Guide for Employers

Compliance /

Why Pay and Award Compliance Matters in Australia Pay and award compliance in Australia has become a major focus for employers, regulators, and the Fair Work Ombudsman. With increasing audits, penalties, and high-profile underpayment cases, businesses must ensure they meet their legal obligations under workplace laws. In our recent HR Bites webinar: Back to Basics

Pay and Award Compliance in Australia: A Back-to-Basics Guide for Employers Read More »

A landmark Federal Court decision reshapes BOOT compliance, annualised salaries and offset clauses. Here’s what Australian employers must review now.

The New “Pay-Period” BOOT: What the Landmark Ruling Means for Employers

Uncategorized /

A recent Federal Court decision has fundamentally changed how Australian employers must think about annualised salaries, offset clauses and the Better Off Overall Test (BOOT). Often referred to as the “pay period boundary” ruling, this decision has wide ranging implications for payroll, HR, employment contracts and record keeping practices across all industries — not just

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New-Gender-Equality-Targets-for-Employers

WGEA Gender Equality Targets are Coming in 2026 – Here’s What Smart Employers Should Do Now

Compliance, Uncategorized /

If you employ 500+ people, you’ve probably already heard the headlines: WGEA gender equality targets are coming. But what’s worth paying attention to isn’t just the compliance requirement, it’s what these changes signal about where workplace expectations are heading in Australia. From 2026, employers captured under the legislation (known as Designated Relevant Employers) will be required to select and commit to three gender equality targets, with at least one being numeric. Employers

WGEA Gender Equality Targets are Coming in 2026 – Here’s What Smart Employers Should Do Now Read More »

Mental Health First Aid at Work: Learn how employers can manage psychosocial hazards, meet WHS obligations, and build a compliant workplace mental health strategy.

Mental Health First Aid at Work: A Practical Guide for Employers

Uncategorized /

Mental health in the workplace is no longer a “nice to have” conversation — it is a business-critical priority.  In a recent HR Bites webinar, I explored the role of Mental Health First Aid at Work within a broader workplace mental health strategy, and the practical steps employers can take to manage psychological risk, meet

Mental Health First Aid at Work: A Practical Guide for Employers Read More »

Pregnancy, Restructures and Flexible Work Managing Risk Under the Fair Work Act

Pregnancy, Restructures and Flexible Work – Managing Risk Under the Fair Work Act

Uncategorized /

Workplaces are increasingly navigating complex situations where business change intersects with employee rights. One of the most sensitive scenarios occurs when an employee who is pregnant is affected by organisational change and requests adjustments to their work arrangements.  Handled well, these situations strengthen trust and demonstrate leadership maturity. Handled poorly, they can expose organisations to claims under the Fair Work Act 2009

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Harrisons Webinar on HR and employment law for 2026

HR & Workplace Relations Trends for 2026: What Employers Need To Know

Uncategorized /

As we step into 2026, Australian workplaces are facing one of the fastest periods of transformation in recent memory. From technological disruption to shifting workforce expectations and major legislative reform, employers must be more proactive than ever to stay compliant, competitive and people-centred. In today’s Harrison’s Webinar, Managing Director Claire Harrison unpacked the 12 most

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2025 Employment Law Updates: Insights from Christy Miller, Partner at Clayton Utz

Compliance /

At our 2025 End-of-Year event, we were privileged to host Christy Miller, Partner at Clayton Utz, who delivered a timely and engaging presentation titled “The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future (Also known as the 2025 Employment Law Updates).” The session provided essential updates and practical guidance for business leaders navigating the evolving landscape

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Harrisons HR Conference - Fair Work Changes, AI in HR, Leadership

Harrisons HR Mini-Conference 2024 Recap – Fair Work Act Changes, Psychosocial Hazards, and AI in HR

Uncategorized /

Harrisons Mini-HR Conference, an exclusive event designed for HR consultants and business leaders was held on Friday, 26 July 2024 in Brisbane. Don’t miss our upcoming webinar covering the Fair Work Act changes over July/August 2024. Our Keynote Speakers: * John Sneddon, Shand Taylor Lawyers * Christy Miller, Clayton Utz * Adele Garnett, HopgoodGanim Lawyers *

Harrisons HR Mini-Conference 2024 Recap – Fair Work Act Changes, Psychosocial Hazards, and AI in HR Read More »

Fair Work Act Closing Loopholes

Closing Loopholes: Additional Fair Work Act Changes

Uncategorized /

In a significant step towards reinforcing workplace fairness, the Australian Government announced the ‘Closing Loopholes’ initiative, building on the initial legislative amendments introduced in December 2023. This recent development aims to address gaps within the current framework, ensuring a more equitable work environment for all. As these changes unfold, it’s imperative for employers and employees

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Employment Law Compliance

NAVIGATING REGULATORY COMPLIANCE AND CHANGING EMPLOYMENT LAWS: A GLOBAL BUSINESS IMPERATIVE

Uncategorized /

In today’s rapidly evolving legal landscape, staying abreast of regulatory compliance and changing employment laws is paramount for businesses, people leaders, company directors, and entrepreneurs globally. As workplaces become more diverse and the nature of work more complex, understanding and adhering to these changing regulations is not just about legal necessity but also about fostering

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