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Covid-19

22 articles from our Tips & Trends archive.

Articles about Covid-19

Safety

The pre-Christmas period is busy as usual. . .but is your workplace too busy to be Psychosocially safe this year?

All businesses experience the pre-Christmas rush. Workplaces seek to ‘clear the decks’ before they ‘deck the halls’ with their family and friends, and this in turn places additional demands on other workplaces. The cycle is unhelpful for all businesses and is likely to contribute to fatigue of workers. The post COVID-19 work spike has been well documented. For a lot of businesses, there has been no respite

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Safety

COVID-19 Safety: What should workplaces be doing now?

In the wake of the 14 October 2022 scrapping of the mandatory COVID-19 isolation periods, employers and employees alike are being urged by public health bodies to continue to appropriately manage COVID-19 return to work timeframes.

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Risk and Compliance

How is your workplace managing current WFH and IT related risks?

During the initial stages of COVID-19, employers struggled with the new territory of an enforced WFH workforce and an increased reliance on IT. Then workplaces gradually adjusted and improvements were genuinely made. Now as we hopefully near the tail end of COVID-19 it appears, according to a recent University of South Australia study, that workplaces still have some further work to do as the full effects of WFH and IT on work-life conflict, employee mental and physical wellbeing, and work engagement become better identified. Whilst some employees have thrived during the new arrangements, others have either continually failed to adjust or now have become ‘fatigued’ by the changes as the ‘novelty’ of the new arrangements wears off.

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Safety

WHS duties the same even with COVID-19 restrictions easing

A lack of public health orders is not an excuse for employers to drop the ball on keeping workplaces COVID-safe – that’s the latest message from the ACTU and a view shared by Safe Work Australia (SWA), demonstrating that unions and regulatory bodies are mostly aligned on the future of WHS relating to COVID-19 as we emerge from the pandemic.

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Covid-19

Can I refuse a working from home request?

Most likely yes, so long as the refusal is based on valid business grounds. For workplaces that operate largely in an office setting, working from home (WFH) has become the primary solution in enabling employees to continue their work during a COVID-19 outbreak.

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Covid-19

Court Support for Employers Enforcing Vaccine Mandates

In late 2021, many Public Health Directions requiring vaccination for certain workers and industries came into effect. In the New Year, many employers have been forced to deal with a small number of employees who have refused to comply with the vaccine direction.

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Covid-19

Can I provide extra pandemic leave to vaccinated employees?

Most likely, yes. While traditional Personal / Carer’s Leave is available to employees who have tested positive to COVID-19, there are many pandemic related reasons why workers may be unable to attend work which don’t fit comfortably with traditional leave entitlements. Mandatory quarantine periods for close contacts of positive cases remain common across Australia but unless employees are able to work from home, they may be forced to access Annual or Long Service leave in order to be paid for the period of isolation.

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Covid-19

Reasonable requirements of employees prior to their return to work?

Employers are expected to be increasingly vigilant in managing COVID related risks in the workplace particularly when managing employees returning from an absence likely to involve COVID or at least a risk of it. But with the ever-changing public health regulatory landscape we understand that this has become difficult and places enormous strain on HR teams.

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Covid-19

Are Rapid Antigen Tests 'good' evidence of incapacity or illness?

Most likely “Yes”. COVID-19 testing generally provides employer with the most valuable information in assisting employees to determine their level of risk to the workplace. However, long queues for traditional PCR tests, as well as changing eligibility criteria for them, has left a lot of the heavy lifting to Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs). Although less reliable than PCR tests, they are in our opinion an objective and safe way for workplaces to manage the risk of COVID-19. The prevalence of RATs is only likely to increase as availably issues are addressed across Australia.

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Covid-19

What do we do when an employee won't comply with customer vaccination requirements for site entry?

We have previously discussed ways in which employers can navigate the emerging area of Public Health Directions / Orders to vaccinate, as well as implementing your own mandatory vaccination policies as a lawful and reasonable direction. But what if you aren’t subject to a Public Health Direction / Order and don’t have a mandatory vaccination policy of your own, but your business performs work for organisations that do – particularly for site entry?

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Newsletter

Close and Casual Contacts - Rules

The borders have now fully opened up and we are now in a new stage of dealing with COVID –unfortunately just in time for the highly contagious Omicron variant to arrive and increase infection rates.

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Covid-19

Has the BHP decision regarding mandatory COVID Vaccinations provided clarity?

FWC Full Bench Speaks A 5 member FWC Full Bench on Friday 3 December 2021 handed down its eagerly anticipated decision finding that BHP’s Mt Arthur mine’s Site Access Requirements for mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations was NOT reasonable because it had failed to comply with the WHS obligations to consult. You can find a copy of the full decision here (http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FWCFB//2021/6059.html)

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Covid-19

Mandatory COVID Vaccinations - Pathway to Progression

There continues to be a flurry of activity around COVID-19 vaccinations. The trend appears to focus on businesses creating their own clarity by avoiding the complexity of competing options and compliance with public health orders by mandating vaccinations and the provision of vaccination status. The application of the mandate has been mixed. It ranges from targeted for certain areas or a comprehensive workplace application dependent on their individual risk assessments.

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