February 2019 Newsletter - News and ideas for clever business people

Why the Dispute Resolution Clause in your Contracts is Important
(A.K.A. Everyone is Friends Until They’re Not!)

In preparing commercial contracts a clause will often be inserted (generally at the prompting of the drafting lawyer) to provide a procedure for dealing with disputes.

Often, very little consideration is given to such clauses as parties to the contract are (quite understandably) more excited and focused on the project at hand and the best case scenario outcome of contracting with their new and exciting business soulmate.

Unfortunately, in some circumstances the proverbial hits the fan and parties are in the unenviable position of scrutinising what their rights are in circumstances of a dispute.

Not all dispute resolution clauses are created equal. Ideally, the type and structure of the dispute resolution clause should be adapted to the contracting relationship.

Read our blog post here

Paying Penalty Rates – What we can Learn from Pizza Hut

Pizza Hut are now required to pay its workers fast food industry award rates including higher penalties after their union was successful in terminating 30 old enterprise agreements.

Most of the agreements were negotiated at least a decade ago and whilst the agreements did not include penalty rates in return for higher pay, the agreements have since fallen below the award.

In coming to the decision to terminate the agreements, Deputy President Peter Sams said he had “taken into account the views of the employees and the employer as well as the likely effect on both” and concluded that this “appears overwhelmingly positive”.

Even though the agreements have now come to an end and those agreements did not include penalty rates, there is still scope for businesses to use enterprise agreements to offset certain award obligations (in this case, penalty rates) into overaward loaded rates.

Read the full article here

Podcast: Reducing Risk in the Workplace with Rachel Derrico

Tune into the Making It Count Podcast Series by Julie Hyde with the latest episode featuring our Senior Associate, Rachel Derrico.

In this podcast Rachel shares her knowledge on employment law and discusses:

The top 4 things employers should have in place when starting to employ people
The three most common mistakes employers are making
The benefits of taking a human approach to business
How Rachel can assist employers and leaders

You will also hear how Rachel is fully engaged and committed to Rankin because she is able to live true to her values and has the flexibility she needs to operate at her best.

Listen to the podcast here

Social Impact Business Meet-Up

The Social Impact Business Meet-Up is back for 2019!

Matthew Boyd of Vollie, Rob Roy Rankin of Rankin Business Lawyers and Steve Schmidt of BRM Projects are meeting with BCorps and socially-minded businesses for "business networking with a heart".

We hold regular fortnightly meetings and we would love to have you or someone from your organisation join us.

The chaired session invites all attendees to share a 1 minute explanation of what they do and their “ASK” (so that others in the room might be able to help them and their business).

If you would like more information contact Holly Bailey on 0499 771 021 or holly.bailey@rankinandco.com

Thanks again for reading. If you have any queries or would like to discuss any legal issues please don’t hesitate to contact me on 0422 736 206 or rob@rankinandco.com.