Flexibility in the Workplace
Feel bad when you need to leave early to see your kids in a school production, feel tired after school holidays from trying to juggle your work and child care? There's some good news in the air. Many workplaces are embracing flexible work practices for their employees.
Legislation now puts a positive legal duty on employers to consider their employees' requests for flexible working arrangements.
However, before you rush out and organise a new routine, employees do not have the automatic right to flexible working hours, only the right to have their request seriously considered by their employer.
The new federal workplace relations framework contains much emphasis on flexible work arrangements and flexibility is a central theme of the Fair Work Act 2009 (FW Act), the new National Employment Standards (NES) and the modern awards that came into operation on 1 January 2010.
The modern awards contain flexibility provisions. These allow an employee and their employer to create a written agreement covering variations to awards in relation to when work is performed, overtime and penalty rates, various allowances and leave loading.
The essential part of the agreement is that the employee must be better off under the agreement than they would have been under the award.
The NES provides a new right for employees to request flexible working arrangements. Under the NES, parents or individuals who are responsible for caring for a child who is under school age, or a disabled child under 18 years of age, are entitled to ask for flexible working arrangements.
Flexible working arrangements are any arrangement which makes it easier for an individual to balance work and parental or carer obligations. Flexible working arrangements can include part-time work, job sharing, working from home, starting or finishing work earlier or later, changing meeting times or limiting after work hours.
Obligations for flexible work practices have existed for Victorian employers under state legislation, but the NES brings this right of flexibility into the federal arena.
So, how do you go about requesting a flexible working arrangement?
Employees must make a request in writing. The request must include the details of the change, and the reasons for requesting the change.
The employee must have completed at least 12 months of continuous service with the employer. If casually employed, the employee must be a long-term casual employee and have a reasonable expectation of continuing employment with the employer on a regular basis.
The employer must then provide a written response within 21 days. An employer can refuse the request on reasonable business grounds. The reason for the refusal must be included in the response.
Does your workplace pass the flex test? We can assist you in understanding flexible working arrangements under the new federal provisions, making a request for flexibility as an employee or responding to one as an employer. Contact us for more information.
Your will be done
When did you last update your will? If the answer is more than 5 years ago, it may be time for a review. As a rule, wills should be reviewed every five years, or when significant events, such as marriage, divorce or death of a relative take place. However, it's useful to review them more regularly than that, to ensure that your will reflects your current situation and wishes.
It's also a good idea to review the status of your beneficiaries. Your will should be updated if circumstances or relationships have changed. Remember once you've updated your will to destroy copies of earlier wills and to let your executor know where your current original will is stored.
Wills should be stored in a safe, secure place such as your lawyer's or bank's document safe, rather than at home.
While we're on the subject of updating and storing documents, we're nearing a new financial year, which is the perfect time to review insurance policies. If your circumstances have changed, your insurance cover may require an update. We can assist you in taking a legal inventory and advising you on any updates required for your will or insurance.
Storing and protecting your legal documents is also an area for review. Consider scanning documents and storing them electronically, at a location other than your home. Keeping important documents in a plastic folder which you can easily find and take with you could prove to be a sanity keeper in the event of an emergency. Below are the types of documents your should consider copying and storing:
will, birth certificate, passport, marriage certificate, powers of attorney papers, land and/or house title or certificate, mortgage papers, rental/leasing documents for home or business rentals, current insurance policies and contact details, superannuation and investment details, employment contract (workers), important business papers (small business), tax file number, Medicare number, health insurance fund number and bank account and credit card numbers.
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