The paper analyses the arbitration of dismissal disputes by Australian labour courts over a 15 years' time span characterized by two major legal reforms to unfair dismissal statutes. We isolate two channels by which we think the social values of the Federal government affected the decisions of...

The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) has redrafted the old ‘transmission of business' provisions for awards and agreements as new ‘transfer of business' provisions. The new provisions differ considerably from the immediately prior Work Choices rules, and they also mark a change from the pre-Work...

This paper examines the impact of English and Australian unfair dismissal legislation on the common law rules which govern the termination of the employment contract. To explore this issue, the paper first outlines some general approaches to the interaction between statute law and the common...

The insights of choice architecture have led to expanded use of default settings in defined contribution (DC) plans in both the United States and Australia. The two countries have taken somewhat similar approaches to the content of default investment products. However, they differ significantly...

The importance of accountability has long been sheeted home to the Office of the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO), the federal statutory agency responsible for enforcement of minimum employment standards under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). In the immediate aftermath of Work Choices, the activities of...

Although employee-representation systems coexist with a collective-bargaining framework in continental Europe for many years, US labor advocates have looked upon those representations systems with suspicion. The reasons for this suspicion are historical: US employee-representation systems have...

Both the United States and Australia have increased the use of default settings in defined contribution (DC) plans such as 401(k)s. However, policy makers in the two countries have taken different approaches to important aspects of default investment products. This article discusses the...

This paper critically analyses existing WTO Dispute Settlement rules and experience to raise awareness amongst industry, government and relevant trade law practitioners of the value in developing expertise about initiating and defending non-violation nullification of benefits (“NVNB”) claims...

This article outlines the current state of the law regarding conduct that, while otherwise protected by Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, nonetheless involves workplace profanity or offensive speech that potentially violates employer civility rules and equal employment opportunity...

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) employment law amendments are a peculiar invention arising out of the unprecedented economic times which we are facing as a nation. This article looks at the legislative responses to the Coronavirus pandemic in the area of employment law. It sets out the pre-existing...