Earlier this month the District Court in NSW made a ruling against a staff member who defamed his employer on his personal Facebook account.  The case was Rothe v Scott (No 4) [2016] NSWDC 160.  This is a precedent case in defamation laws as in that the employer was not specifically named in the Facebook post which is usually required to prove defamation.  The court ruled that there were sufficient facts in the post that an ordinary reasonable person could identify the subject of the post.
 
It is very important that you are always aware of you and your staff’s actions in and out of the workplace and that social media policies are incorporated into your employment contracts and office procedures.


Redundancy Calculations

When calculating redundancy packages for full time staff the length of time employed in the business is taken into account.  However, in a recent ruling by the Fair Work Commission a decision was made to also include any time employed on a casual basis prior to moving to full time should also count towards the redundancy package.  This only applies if the transition from casual to full time was continuous.  It is also important to note that casual employees are not entitled to redundancy packages unless they transitioned to a full time position.
 
Click here to read a recent article in the Age.


Ways to get paid faster

It is important to do your homework on your customers before you start doing business with them.  In this article on Xero’s blog, they suggest three ways to improve the likelihood of getting paid faster.  These are:

1. Request a deposit or cash on delivery;
2. Tighten your timeframes;
3. Better manager your cash flow.

Click here to read the full article.


And finally…

A nod to our helpful friends in the IT department.


Thanks again for reading. If you have any queries or would like to discuss any legal issues please don’t hesitate to contact me on 0422 736 206 or rob@rankinandco.com