Better HR was recently asked to review employment contracts provided (at considerable cost) to one of our clients by a competitor.
Our employment law experts were alarmed at the number of serious compliance issues we identified, and the substantial risks these created for the employer. Examples of the many defects we found included:
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Failure to define the precise days and hours of work for their part-time employees, as required by the applicable Modern Award. This has resulted in a major – and very expensive – underpayment liability. |
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Inclusion of clauses regarding annualised salaries which were in clear breach of the requirements imposed by the applicable Modern Award. This has resulted serious breaches of the Award, exposing the employer to possible prosecution and penalties. |
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A ‘termination’ clause which, if applied, would almost certainly breach the ‘unfair dismissal’ and ‘unlawful termination’ provisions of the Fair Work Act, resulting in expensive and time-consuming claims and compensation payments. |
If you’re using employment contracts issued by any other HR service, there a few very important things we here at Better HR want you to know:
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It seems many contracts issued by our competitors are based on a generic template, and you could be exposed to substantial risk because these templates don’t always comply with applicable Modern Awards. |
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Contracts issued to Award-covered employees must comply with the requirements imposed by the applicable Award. For example, many Awards require part-time and salaried employees to be given mandatory information about their employment in writing. If generic ‘fill in the blank’ templates are used, there is a real risk of non-compliance, underpayments and penalties. |
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Some competitors are using unqualified or inexperienced sales representatives to prepare ‘fill-in- the-blank’ contracts for their clients. Be particularly wary of templates which refer to an Appendix containing the ‘blanks’ which have been filled-in without proper reference to the applicable Modern Award or the National Employment Standards. |
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‘Fair Work’ does not does not endorse or recommend any specific HR service in Australia. If you’ve subscribed to a particular HR service because you were contacted by ‘Fair Work’ or they were recommended when you called ‘Fair Work’, chances are you were being misled and were actually speaking with that HR service all along. |
FREE Competitor Contract Review
If you’re unsure whether the contracts you’ve paid good money for are fully-compliant, we’re here to help. from 1 January to 31 March, we’re offering a free, no-obligation ‘Contract Review’ for anyone using contracts issued by a competitor. Accessing this free, no-obligation service is as easy as 1, 2, 3:
- 1. Enter your contact details in the form below.
- 2. Upload your employment contract in Word format.
- 3. ‘Submit Enquiry’.
We will review your contract, highlight any risks, insert comments directly into the document, and email it back to you.
THIS OFFER IS NOW CLOSED
