As flexible work cements a place in Australia’s working landscape, HR leaders are being warned of growing compliance risks—particularly around working hours, pay entitlements, and employer obligations under award provisions.
“Since the pandemic there’s been a considerable uptake of working from home – it’s become common occurrence in many workplaces and we’re seeing the line blur between what constitutes as an office. That creates a series of complexities for employers because they have a duty to ensure their employees are safe,” said Victoria-Jane Otavski, Partner at BlackBay Lawyers.
But safety isn't the only concern. Visibility into actual hours worked has emerged as a critical compliance issue—especially when those hours are either under or over contractual obligations.
“It’s a big issue when you have to look at tracking hours,” Otavski explained to HRD. “You could be paying someone for working under what they’re contracted – but there’s an issue you could also see people working over their hours.”
Data from the Fair Work Commission (FWC) shows that of the 531 employees surveyed, half say they rarely or never log their hours of work when working remotely and three out of four attended to non-work matters.
Otavski said there are other ways to ensure your workers are working when not in the office – through monitoring log-on and log-off times as well as keystroke loggers.
“There are loopholes round this – you can leave your computer...
Local News False claims about new government payments are circulating online, prompting a warning from the Canada Revenue Agency about disinformation tied to federal benefits. The agency says post...