Paid parental leave – are you prepared?

The paid parental leave scheme came into effect on 1 January 2011, with employer participation compulsory from 1 July 2011 but voluntary before that date.

Payments under the paid parental leave scheme are made by the Commonwealth Government, but administered through the employer, which has information-providing and record-keeping obligations, and an obligation to pay the employee provided that the Commonwealth Government has paid the employer the relevant leave payments.

Emp Law Update – David Jones and discrimination: What is the wash-up?

Now that the David Jones/McInnes/Fraser-Kirk discrimination dispute has come to an end, and the media has to find salacious news elsewhere, it is time to consider the overall significance of the David Jones case.

Firstly, it is significant that, while the much disputed $37m claim appears to have been settled for a much smaller amount, the reported settlement of about $850,000 still amounts to a record amount of compensation in a discrimination claim, at least as far as the public record goes. The previous record was $466,000 in a matter that went all the way through the court process and involved an employee with demonstrable psychological injury.