Last week marked the commencement of the next tranche of closing the loopholes legislation .
The significant changes commencing include:
- New rules for casuals converting to permanent employment – there is now a new pathway available for casuals who wish to convert to permanent employment. Note that for casuals who were employed prior to today there are transitional arrangements in place. Read the FWO fact sheet here for further information.
- The right for employees to disconnect – this protects an employees’ right to refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact from their employer outside their working hours, unless the refusal is unreasonable.
- Model ‘right to disconnect’ terms have also been inserted into all modern awards.
- There are also new rules affecting the engagement of independent contractors and determining whether they are contractors or employees. Further information can be found here.
