NEW RULES FOR SMALL BUSINESS (from 26 August 2025)
 
On 26 August 2025, new laws will start for small businesses and their employees. These changes relate to the right to disconnect and the ‘employee choice’ pathway for casual employees.
 

RIGHT TO DISCONNECT

Employees can refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact or attempted contact, outside their working hours, unless their refusal is unreasonable.
 
'EMPLOYEE CHOICE' PATHWAY FOR CASUALS
From 26 August 2025, eligible casuals in small businesses can notify their employer in writing of their intention to change to full time or part time employment.  This is called the ‘employee choice’ pathway.  A casual employee can also choose to remain casual.
 
The employer must respond to any requests they receive.  They may also refuse the request in some circumstances.
 
>> FURTHER READING from the Fair Work Commission New Rules for Small Business Factsheet on what you can do to make sure you are prepared.

 
RECENT REDUNDANCY DECISION

Following the High Court’s decision, an employer undertaking a restructure, needs to ensure that it has broadly considered its redeployment obligations. The Commission can legitimately consider whether an employer could have made operational changes to ensure redeployment.
 
The decision reinforces that employers must go beyond checking whether vacancies exist when assessing redeployment. If contractors are performing ongoing work that could reasonably be undertaken by affected employees, the employer must factor this into its redeployment analysis.
 
In any restructure, to ensure that an employer is immune from unfair dismissal claims, employers need to consider whether they could have made changes to how it uses its workforce to operate, so as to create or make available a position for an employee who would otherwise have been terminated due to redundancy. Simply asserting that the organisation gave consideration to open and available roles, is unlikely to satisfy the legislative requirements for a "genuine redundancy".
 
Please contact us if you require any assistance with redundancies and compliance.

 

INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS

Independent contractors (contractors) provide services for another business or person instead of being employed by them. They usually negotiate their own fees and working arrangements and can work for more than one client at a time. Contractors don’t have the same rights and obligations as employees.
 
The test for working out if someone is a contractor or an employee changed last year.
 
>> FURTHER READING from the Fair Work Ombudsman Find Help for Independent Contractors.

 
MYTH OR FACT 


'YOU ONLY NEED TO PROVIDE POLICIES AT INDUCTION'
Employers should take employees through workplace policies during induction and keep a record of this, as one of the ‘reasonable steps’ taken by the employer, to address inappropriate and unlawful behaviours at work. However, for certain types of behaviour, this alone is not enough.
 
To avoid being held vicariously liable for the acts of employees in the workplace, such as acts of discrimination or harassment, employers need to show they have taken all ‘reasonable steps’, to prevent employees from engaging in inappropriate and unlawful behaviour.
 
We recommend that policies are provided at induction, and all employees are provided with refreshers regularly.
 
Changes to federal anti-discrimination laws introduced a ‘positive duty’, requiring employers to take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate, as far as possible, conduct that includes sex discrimination, sexual harassment, harassment on the ground of sex, a hostile workplace environment and victimisation in the workplace. 

Training on policies at induction will not be enough to satisfy the 'positive duty'. 

Please contact us if you require assistance ensuring your policies are up to date and compliant.