1. The laws relating to unfair dismissal attempt to balance the needs of the business and the needs of employees, and establish procedures for dealing with unfair dismissal that are quick, flexible and informal, and address the needs of employers and employees. The aim is to ensure that a “fair go al...

Business to business contracts are often "standard form contracts", meaning that one party will have a pre-drafted the contract to make it easier and simpler (and often quicker) to provide the contract to the other party, such as contracts between a supplier and its customers.  Sometimes the reverse...

If you’re a director of a company, you may very well have been asked to sign a personal guarantee, to guarantee the company’s obligations under a contract – for example, the payment of invoices to a supplier, or the payment of rent to a landlord.  Sometimes, the company and the personal guarantor wi...

The “Respect at Work” legislation (Sex Discrimination and Fair Work (Respect at Work) Amendment Act 2021 (Cth)) took effect on 10 September 2021, focusing on sexual harassment in the workplace and extending compassionate leave entitlements to include miscarriage. The legislation amended relevant pro...

It is imperative for both landlords and tenants that whenever a retail lease is being negotiated, any required amendments to terms of the lease that remain to be negotiated are brought to the other party’s attention so that they can be negotiated, and the documents amended to reflect the negotiated ...

If you are a director or former director of a company and the company does not meet its pay as you go (PAYG) withholding, goods and services tax (GST) or super guarantee charge (SGC) obligations, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) may recover those amounts from you personally. This means the ATO i...

There are special rules that apply to commercial leases that fall within the definition of being a “retail lease”.  Under the Retail Leases Act 1994 (NSW), landlords must, amongst other things, comply with strict deadlines for providing various notices to their tenants.  It is therefore imperative t...

The responsibility for the payment of the costs of the water usage and electricity for a Kirrawee commercial property was the subject of a dispute dealt with by the District Court in 2017 – AAP Engineering Pty Ltd v Fernlog Pty Ltd [2017] NSWDC 141.

The tenant, Fernlog, leased a portion of the prop...

When an agent is entering into a contract on behalf of a company, all parties to the contract should take particular care to ensure that the contract is executed properly, making it legally binding and enforceable.  Particular attention should also be given to the agent themselves, as it is importan...

All business owners and agents must be careful when providing prospective purchasers with sales figures and other information, particularly where reliance will be placed on that information, without separate verification by the prospective purchaser. This issue arose in a December 2019 decision by t...

What is the best option when leasing commercial properties?

It is now standard practice when acting for landlords in commercial leasing, to request some kind of security from the tenant, typically a bank guarantee or security deposit in the form of a cash bond, and where applicable personal guarant...

• Do you have employees in your business?
• Are they expected to work outside of their set hours?
• Do you know what the law says in relation to this kind of overtime?

The Fair Work Commission has ordered an employer to pay eight weeks’ wages to an apprentice who was found to have been unfairly dis...