Employee Rights In
The Workplace

Things You Must Know When You Have Staff

Employee rights in the workplace,employee rights termination and employee legal rights refer to your legal requirements as an employer. If you have staff then you must be aware of their correct entitlements and also their conditions of service.

As a business owner you must take the time to familiarise yourself with the appropriate laws. Ignorance is no excuse and is not an adequate defence should you and an employee should end up in court. Employee's rights are covered by numerous employee rights acts and legislation and apply to salaried employees and temporary employees as well as to casual staff.

Employee rights in the workplace covers things such as;

employee safety in the workplace
conditions, entitlements and award wages.
employee harassment
employee legal rights
employee privacy rights
employee rights drug testing
garnishment of wages

As a business owner you must protect yourself and your business by understanding the legal obligations that you have to your employees in relation to;

issuing an employee warning notice

employee rights in termination and how to
fire an employee

rules for laying off employees

disciplining employees

employee conflict

dealing with difficult employeees

employee training development

employee performance assessment

Recruiting Employees

Find Out Your Legal Obligations

Before hiring staff you must do some research to ensure that you are employing staff under the correct award or employment contract. State and Federal laws require that you maintain up to date and accurate employee records.

The specific award or employment contract that applies will bring with it certain entitlements and conditions. That is why it is important to do your research first and make sure that the correct award is applied.

Read more here about new hire paperwork and about your employee code of conduct. Both of these processes will help to ensure that you and your staff are fully aware of employee rights and responsibilites in the workplace.

As an employer you also have certain obligations in relation to your employees and the way that you pay and record their benefits and entitlements. Legislation states that employers must provide all employees with pay slips. It is also a legal requirement that you maintain certain time, wage and leave records.

You must have a system for recording staff working hours, wages paid and for any leave accrued and also taken.

Fines are imposed on employers who do not provide their staff with the correct entitlements or who fail to properly record those payments.

Employee Record Keeping

Knowing your obligations concerning employee rights in the workplace and maintaining up-to-date records means that;

you will satisfy your legal obligations.

in the event of a dispute or if you have to
fire an employee you will have evidence to support your case

you will improve staff moral. Studies have shown that staff moral is reduced when employees have issues with management over entitlements and conditions, especially in the areas of wages, sick leave and holiday entitlements.

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