Fair Work Act 2009
90
MENTIONS
28
EPISODES
23
PODCASTS
Search complete. 90 mentions across 28 episodes found for "Fair Work Act 2009".
Sep 24, 2026
Simon CarabettaHOST
But it's not just this whole HR vibe thing we're talking about today.
Simon CarabettaHOST
This is actually grounded in legality in Australia because, um, New regulations, particularly here in Western Australia anyway, in the Fair Work Act, psychosocial – so control of psychosocial risks has actually been addressed and come into effect, and that was in 2022 here in Western Australia.
Simon CarabettaHOST
I'm not too sure on what the other states and territories are like or what it's like with fair work on a national level, but I can speak for WA – The Work and Self-Health Safety Act has now talked about reasonable controls for psychosocial risks in the
DeanieHOST
workplace.
Tony WoodHOST
of the Competition and Fair Work Legislation Amendment in brackets Banning Unfair Non-Competes Bill 2026.
Tony WoodHOST
And the purpose of that bill is to make amendments both to the Fair Work Act and also to the Competition and Consumer Act in respect of matters which deal with what we'll broadly describe as non-competes.
Tony WoodHOST
And we'll go into that in a little bit more detail later on.
Tony WoodHOST
But what I want to talk to you in the first minute before I talk for too long, and then I'm going to get some overview from both Nat and Lucy, is what this bill, at least in respect of the changes to the Fair Work Act, does.
Tony WoodHOST
And I had a list of the things here.
Tony WoodHOST
and we'll run through this in a little bit more detail as we unpack it the bill will ban non-competes for all employees below the high income threshold secondly for all employees or what we call national system employees it will ban non-solution solicitation clauses in employment contracts It will ban all non-competes and restraints in awards and enterprise agreements.
Melissa BushHOST
Nothing in today's episode changes that.
Melissa BushHOST
What this case does is remind us that the legal definition of bullying under the Fair Work Act is specific and it isn't met simply because an employee found something unpleasant, objectionable or challenging.
Melissa BushHOST
Today's episode is about understanding that definition, what bullying actually is, what it is not and what that means for you as a business owner.
Melissa BushHOST
Hello and welcome to Business Know How, practical legal insights for Australian businesses.
Melissa BushHOST
With that said, you're in the right place, so let's get started.
Melissa BushHOST
Today, we're looking at a very short but very instructive Fair Work Commission decision from 2026 and the clear practical guidance it gives every employer about what bullying is, what it is not, and when you can and should defend your position.
Melissa BushHOST
So the right to apply for an anti-bullying order sits in the Fair Work Act of 2009 under a regime that came into force in 2014.
Melissa BushHOST
It is not a damages regime.
Patty ShapiroHOST
What's the legal framework that governs employment in Australia?
Kristyn LambertGUEST
Well, the backbone of Australian employment law is a federal statute, the Fair Work Act of 2009.
Kristyn LambertGUEST
It operates in conjunction with state and territory legislation.
Kristyn LambertGUEST
So similar in concept to how U.S. federal and state law interacts.
Kristyn LambertGUEST
But within the Fair Work Act, the centerpiece is the National Employment Standards,
Patty ShapiroHOST
or the NES.
Kristyn LambertGUEST
There are 10 minimum employment entitlements that must be provided to all employees.
16 MINS LATER
Patty ShapiroHOST
If you're a U.S. company expanding into Australia, here are the key things to remember.
Karen CurtinHOST
it's really about giving someone every opportunity to succeed and become a long-term engaged team member.
Karen CurtinHOST
So starting with in terms of what is a probation period, most of them are three to six months, although that should never be confused with an employee's workplace rights or the minimum employment period under the Fair Work Act, which is six months or 12 months, depending on if you meet the definition of a small business employer.
Karen CurtinHOST
So although the time period is important to understand, one of the biggest misconceptions I come across is that probation is a date in the calendar.
Karen CurtinHOST
Someone receives a reminder from HR or payroll that probation finishes next week.
7 MINS LATER
Karen CurtinHOST
Or, you know, can I give you a suggestion that could make that task easier for you next time? They're really small bits of feedback and conversations, but they build trust and clarity over time.
Karen CurtinHOST
So then when you get to the end of the probation period, nothing's a surprise because you've been talking all the way through.
Karen CurtinHOST
And occasionally we asked, can probation be extended? And often an extension has no real legal standing in that just because you say extended doesn't mean that the period aligns with the Fair Work Act requirements or that the employee can't make an unfair dismissal claim.
Karen CurtinHOST
But more importantly, if you have a six-month period and you have enough concerns that you're still unsure, then I would be asking, why are you considering trying to extend this? Are you just trying to avoid making a decision? And that's why the process, check-ins and conversation during the periods are so important.
Lauren SharpHOST
So the Albanese government has released draft legislation banning non-compete clauses for Australian workers earning less than $190,100 a year.
Lauren SharpHOST
The Fair Work Act high income threshold, that is.
Lauren SharpHOST
Now, in a move, it says we'll lift wages and improve job mobility, but which employer groups have labelled heavy handed.
Lauren SharpHOST
The reform target clauses that prevent workers moving to a better paying job, the government says more than three million Australian workers are currently constrained by a non-compete clause, including childcare workers, trades people and receptionists, which I think is a bit fucking ridiculous.
Shelley WilliamsHOST
That's right, Peter.
Shelley WilliamsHOST
The closing loopholes reforms were introduced following the enactment of two pieces of federal legislation passed in late 2023 and early 2024, together representing what were really the most significant amendments to the Fair Work Act since the Secure Jobs and Better Pay amendments.
Shelley WilliamsHOST
And those changes have really been rolling out since December 2023 through to August 2025.
Peter McNultyGUEST
And as you've mentioned, Shelley, they are really broad ranging reforms as well, ranging from wage theft criminalisation, same job, same pay, a new casual employment definition, employee contractor definitions, the right to disconnect, a whole new regime for employee like workers and standards by which those workers would be governed as well.
Peter McNultyGUEST
But we should probably also discuss, Shelley, sort of why these wage compliance obligations are a focus under the closing of loophole reforms as well.
Shelley WilliamsHOST
Yeah, that's right.
Shelley WilliamsHOST
So if we sort of take a step back and look at the legislative regime that was introduced, it was back in January 2025 that it became a criminal offence under the Fair Work Act to intentionally underpay an employee's wages.
Shelley WilliamsHOST
The penalties were significantly increased and they include up to 10 years imprisonment for an individual who's involved in the contravention and the higher of three times of an underpayment or 8.25 million in fees for a corporation or 1.65 million for an individual or three times the underpayment, whichever is higher.
Tom BrambleGUEST
and push back the Howard government, it could potentially have wrecked the Workplace Relations Act before we got much of a chance to gather steam.
Tom BrambleGUEST
And so, you know, we're living with the consequences of that limited campaign even now, that even though the Workplace Relations Act has been superseded first by Work Choices and now by the Fair Work Act, a lot of the sort of provisions of the laws that came through in the 1990s are still with us today in terms of limits and the right to strike.
Tom BrambleGUEST
Had there been a broader industrial campaign where the Howard government was on the defensive, they could have broken those kind of provisions, and we could be living with an actual right to strike in Australia today, which unions and workers would be able to use relatively freely, rather than all the kind of the obstructions that get put in front of workers when they want to strike today.
Tom BrambleGUEST
So it was a rare opportunity when the working class and trade union movement could have remade the rules, and that opportunity was lost.
Andrew DouglasHOST
Something that, again, you and I and Kim and I have talked about a lot is that the definition of what is reasonable management action and what is bullying differ greatly between the two jurisdictions, or there's three jurisdictions actually that have it.
Andrew DouglasHOST
Bullying sits in the Fair Work Act.
Andrew DouglasHOST
It's a defined code.
Andrew DouglasHOST
It sits in workers' compensation land as a means for being accepted.
Andrew LeighGUEST
But it's a rare worker who's willing to have those conversations.
Andrew LeighGUEST
So what we're doing is we're getting rid of non-competes for workers earning below the Fair Work Act high income threshold.
Andrew LeighGUEST
That's $190,100 at the moment.
Andrew LeighGUEST
It's indexed on the 1st of July every year and it covers about nine out of 10 workers.
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