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Unfair Dismissal Claims: What Are They & How Do You Avoid Them?

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Operating a business requires a huge commitment from business owners both to the future success of their company and to the well-being of their staff. To ensure that your business continues to thrive moving forward, you need to ensure that your staff are motivated, productive and believe in the mission of your company. Unfair treatment of your staff, even in the case of a dismissal, can wreak havoc on your business and cause chaos within your company.

To avoid an unfair dismissal in Melbourne, business owners need to ensure they follow the correct protocols when letting employees go. An unfair dismissal claim could tarnish the reputation of your business, result in low staff morale and poor relations with the business community in your area going forward. You can be held liable under the Fair Work Act if an employees dismissal is determined to be “harsh, unjust or unreasonable” by the Fair Work Commission. This can be a stressful situation for business owners that can cause irreparable damage to your business, but with the right approach, you can avoid arriving at this unfortunate juncture.

Let’s explore a few ways that you can reduce your risk of facing an unfair dismissal claim in your business.

Don’t Rush A Dismissal

Although you don’t have any legal obligation to issue your employees with any number of warnings before you dismiss them, you need to be careful about how quickly you dismiss your employee. Firing them on the spot, for example, is never advised, as, from a legal standpoint, there are very few times where this is allowed. However, if there is sufficient evidence that the employee has broken the law while at work or has broken your safety protocols, you may be within your rights to dismiss them there and then but tread carefully.

Work With Them

As an employer, it is your job to inform underperforming or uncooperative staff members as to where they are going wrong and what they can do to improve. Failing to offer guidance and an opportunity to improve could be seen to be an unfair dismissal. Meet with the employee in question and outline what the issues are and put a plan in place to help them to reach their work goals. You should meet again in time to review their progress before moving forward with the dismissal. Should there be an unfair dismissal case, the favour will be with you at trial, as you will have offered a solution to the problem and a roadmap to improvement for your employee.

Hear Their Side

If you have any allegations to bring against an employee, whether it is regarding underperformance or misconduct, you need to allow them to respond to the allegations. While this is certainly a fair way to approach the situation, it is also legally required that you take this approach. You are obligated to clearly outline the allegations and communicate them clearly to the employee in writing. They need to be given an opportunity to consider the allegations before you meet with them to discuss the issues. You must give their response genuine consideration or you could end up facing an unfair dismissal trial down the line.

Ensure You Avoid An Unfair Dismissal Case

Employees are dismissed for a variety of reasons and you are completely within your rights as a business owner to dismiss employees who are not performing well, who breach safety protocols or who do not behave appropriately in the workplace. However, before you dismiss an employee, you must take the time to ensure you have not given cause for unfair dismissal. Treating your employees with respect and compassion, even in a dismissal, will ensure your business avoids being hit with an unfair dismissal claim in the future.

Reviewing the fundamental elements of your employment contract

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The foundation of any employment relationship is the employee’s contract of employment. Whilst existing in conjunction with the companies own policies and guidelines, an employment contract provides the fundamentals of what will hopefully become an ongoing and fruitful employment relationship, It is therefore important for all new employees to carefully review the fundamentals of any proposed employment contract with a business lawyer in Melbourne, in order to fully understand your rights and obligations under the contract.

The Position

Any employment contract should provide a prospective employee with a clear understanding of the job requirements, the hours of employment and the essential duties it entails. This should be written in straightforward language, so that you are fully aware of your expectations as an employee should you choose to enter the contractual relationship.

Understanding your obligations in fulfilling the position offered by the employee is important in regards to ‘repudiation’. In contract law this refers to unwillingness or an inability to substantially perform the contract and is grounds for termination. It is therefore important to understand the standards of performance that your prospective employer has included as terms of the contract, in order to avoid a breach of the contract which amounts to grounds for termination.

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Length of Agreement

An employment contract should contain an original term of employment and specify conditions that are applicable in relation to extending or reducing the contract term. This is particularly important to review for those entering into seasonal or fixed term employment. This ensures that you are fully aware of the length of the employment, and that an extension of the term may not be a definite when entering the employment relationship.

Compensation

Adequate compensation for hard work is a fundamental of any employment relationship. If a salary has been negotiated it is important that these figures are entered into the contract, or that a base hourly wage that has been agreed upon by both parties exists within the terms of the contract. If the position involves the payment of a commission, it is important that the percentage is included and agreed upon as a term of the contract and that any overtime authorization policy that exists in the company is fair and agreeable.

Restraint of Trade and Confidentiality clauses

Restraint of trade clauses are commonly found in employment contracts and are therefore an important condition of employment which is hard to fully understand. Restraint of trade clauses regulate an employee’s conduct normally in the work area or workplace while employee is still engaged in the employment relationship and furthermore restrict a former employee’s conduct once the employment relationship has ended. This therefore also protects the employer’s business interests.

A restraint of trade clause can have lasting effects on your prospects – be it leaving your current work or then looking for other jobs, following the end of your employment relationship. It therefore is important to seek the advice of an experienced business lawyer in order to determine whether the terms are enforceable, and how they may impact you upon the end of your employment.

If a confidentiality clause exists in an employment contract it is important to understand exactly what is defined as ‘confidential information’. This will differ between companies and areas of employment, so it is important to ensure that you fully understand your obligations and the circumstances in which the disclosure of confidential information is permitted, should you choose to enter into an employment relationship.

Termination of employment

No termination of an employee’s employment will occur without a careful examination of the terms of that employee’s contract of employment. This is because the termination of employment is the end of the contractual relationship that exists between the employer and employee and therefore must comply with the terms agreed to within the contract. The elements of the contract in relation to grounds of termination are important for both parties, as they can result in claims for unfair dismissal under the Fair Work Act if a later termination of employment is a direct breach of the employment contract.

Reviewing these relevant terms in your employment contract with an experienced business lawyer is an important step in understanding your rights and entitlement for damages, should your employment later be terminated. It ensures that you enter into an employment relationship fully informed of your rights and obligations under the agreement, and will help foster a long and successful relationship with your future employer.

Bio: Laura Costello is in her third year of a Bachelor of Law/International Relations at Latrobe University. She is passionate about the law, the power of social media, and the ability to translate her knowledge of both common and complex legal topics to readers across a variety of mediums, in a way that is easy to understand.

What Your Employees Are Begging You To Do

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Good employees are too often hard to find, and even harder to keep. With competitors lurking around every corner, keeping your employees happy where they are is essential. Few people feel comfortable approaching their superior with requests, so how are you to know what practices you can adopt to best suit their needs? These are a few simple ways to improve your relationship with your employees, while simultaneously boosting your business. From going green with recyclables which could be considered a small change (click here) but make employees happy, to considering changing working hours, read on to make your workplace a little happier.

Reward them

One thing we all want is to feel appreciated, and what better way to do that than with rewards? Consider giving a bonus vacation day in exchange for meeting a sales goal. Most people will work harder if they know they can make more money. Giving bonuses at holiday is always a great way to stay in your employee’s good graces. When times are hard, a little extra money can go a long way.

Consider Flexitime

In the fast paced modern world, it’s often difficult to check off all those items on your To Do list. Fun things like soccer practices and ballet lessons often become more of a chore due to conflicting schedules and long work weeks. This is one of the main reasons your employees are pushing for your implementation of flextime into your business. Studies show that happy employees are productive employees. Whether they have children waiting at home for dinner, or split their time between work and animal shelters, your employees do have a life outside of the workplace. Acknowledging that life is a great way to show your employees that you care. By allowing for flextime, you have given them a good deal more power over their own lives. Now, taking an elderly relative to an hour long appointment won’t necessitate using an entire sick day. That hour is easily made up for with flextime. The more hours your employees work, the more work is done. This couldn’t be much more simple. Allowing for flextime can reduce sick days taken, hence increasing productivity.

A flexible schedule doesn’t necessarily mean midnight meetings and complete chaos. For typical type A business owners, the idea of flextime is scary to say the least. Should you choose to incorporate flextime into your business practices, you can simply set whatever guidelines best fit your business practices. For example, if you are in the plumbing industry, you probably won’t be able to get much work done in the middle of the night as your customers and co-workers are sleeping. Maybe your flextime would run from 6am to 8pm. There is more likely work to be done during these times. In some industries, flextime helps to save on overtime costs. Because some employees come in later than others, they also leave later than others. Say you have an emergency call at 6 pm, which would normally push employee hours. An employee exercising his rights to flextime may still be working. In this way, flextime definitely benefits the employer as well as employee.

Go Green

 

Another way to boost employee morale is by going green (or at least green-er ). Energy efficient options can save on monthly costs while saving the environment too. Mother Earth gives us life, and is likely near and dear to the hearts of many of your employees. Talk to them about ideas they may have for going green in the office. Chances are, they already have ideas in mind. Many supply companies give discounts on future purchases for recycling their used products. For example, ink toner cartridges are usually reusable. Check with your suppliers to find out what materials they can reuse, and what programs they offer in relation to recycling. When your employees feel good about the things they are doing, they do better work.

Although they may seem fairly insignificant, these three simple changes can make all the difference in your business and business relationships. Employees are more likely to remain loyal to companies where they feel appreciated and listened to. By implementing one or all of these small changes, you can ensure a lower turnover rate, and higher production quality. Simply put, a happy employee is a good employee … and who couldn’t use a little more joy around the office?

10 Steps To Turn Your Employees Into Brand Ambassadors

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According to a recent research conducted by Gallup, apparently 70% of employees within all organizations are disengaged from their brands. If this is the situation at your organization, you might want to reverse it by turning your employees into brand ambassadors. Here’s how.

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1. Acknowledge

First of all, acknowledge your employees and the very key role they play in cascading brand information. It’s only through fully engaged employees that companies can deliver consistent brand messaging across the market. Pay your employees their due; they deserve to be acknowledged and accepted for their role.

2. Audit

Evaluate all internal communications such as newsletters, your intranet, management emails and so on. Is your brand identity and promise consistent everywhere? Are your employees getting the same message each time, or are they confused as to what your brand represents? A proper audit will put your doubts to rest and help you get the right picture.

3. Train

Train your employees on what your brand represents; let them get thoroughly familiar with your processes, logo, colors, byline, vision, motto, value proposition, brand positioning and so on. Test each employee’s knowledge by asking him or her to train a newbie. Make the training fun and creative.

4. Reinforce

Training them just once will not do; you will have to reinforce your brand messaging by issuing key brand elements printed on wallet cards, stickers and t-shirts. Keep putting your brand in front of your staff; emphasize how you do things, vis-à-vis how your competition does it.

5. Assess

Periodically, assess how well your employees have imbibed your brand promise. Retrain them and reinforce elements that have not been fully assimilated. No need to turn it into a military exercise; make it fun through contests and quizzes.

6. Role-play

Help your staff put themselves into your customer’s shoes. Help them understand the overall customer experience and how each employee can use their brand knowledge to enhance it. Let each employee understand how their job role impacts customer experience.

7. Recognize

Conduct brand contests and quizzes periodically and award winning employees. Publish the profiles of employees who consistently deliver your brand promise to customers on your intranet. Make sure your customers aware of your pride in your loyal brand ambassadors as well.

8. Feedback

Ask your employees for their input and feedback on how best to deliver your brand promise. Let them brainstorm and come up with innovative ideas. Be sure to incorporate these ideas. Let the employees feel a sense of ownership towards your brand; this will make them more inclined to promote it.

9. Empower

Empower your employees to let people know what your company is going to do next. Knowing your business plans and being free to talk about them will be a source of great pride for them. They will feel encouraged to be your brand’s ready ambassadors when you empower them this way.

10. Engage

Let your employees engage with your audience via social media and disseminate brand information. Trust them to deliver the right information. Your employees can become your most ardent brand ambassadors and brand promoters if you train, encourage and empower them properly.