Employment Law Update (Easter 2020)

As I was driving to the shops to purchase essential food supplies (a legitimate reason to be out and about under our current restrictions), it was somewhat overwhelming to see the numbers of shopfront businesses that have closed the doors here in Bendigo.

Some, like OFRM, are lucky to be able to work from home and it has been exciting to see some of the innovative ways local business people are pivoting how they can continue to operate and create new offerings.

However, all those closed doors make you realise there are a lot of businesses under a lot of pressure and owners are faced with some difficult decisions. That’s why I thought it was worthwhile sharing a couple of updates in specific areas regarding employment law and Covid-19.

Avoiding legal issues with employees working from home during Covid-19

There is no doubt that many businesses have undertaken a rapid transition to most staff working from home.

The current circumstances do not remove an employer's obligation for its employees' health and safety.

Even when an employee is working from home, an employer must still provide a safe work environment and must not discriminate against an employee. An employer should not assume that every employee will be fine working from home and must not treat every employee the same.

As employers this means you need to:

• Make sure you have the appropriate policies and procedures for staff working from home and that you are able to assess that these policies are being complied with
• That you ensure the safety of your staff working from home
• That you manage the stress and anxiety your staff may be experience — particularly with both the transition to home and the stress of Covid-19

OFRM is able to assist you with preparing and implementing the necessary policies.

Pandemic leave for employees

The Fair Work Commission has varied 99 awards providing award covered employees with 2 weeks unpaid pandemic leave and annual leave at half pay until the 30 June this year.

It is crucial that employers are aware of this change to their legal obligations for award covered employees. A list of the modified awards can be found at Fair Work unpaid pandemic leave in awards.

We can help you with understanding your businesses legal obligations under the changes to industry awards. Contact our business lawyers Lachlan Edwards on 0427 916 442 or Siobhan Liston on 03 5445 1000 for assistance.