Australia: Acceptable alternative employment: have you done enough to claim the redundancy pay exemption?

From individual redundancies to large scale restructures, redundancy continues to be a dominant theme in 2015. One of the recurring issues is whether an employer is exempt from the obligation to pay redundancy pay because it has obtained “other acceptable employment” for the worker. The Fair Work Commission (Commission) has dealt with this issue in a number of cases since late 2014 and in each of these cases, ordered the employer to pay redundancy […]

By | May 25th, 2015 ||

Australia: Altering an employee’s position to their detriment

The question of whether a redundancy is genuine was again put before the court in the recent decision of Penglase v Allied Express Transport Pty Ltd. This case is a reminder that employers cannot alter an employee’s position to the employee’s detriment in response to an employee’s illness or injury. The case also shows that in redundancy circumstances, employers need to have evidence that the business is undergoing a genuine restructure and that this […]

By | May 25th, 2015 ||

Canada: A Guide To Change-In-Control Arrangements

Conducting thorough due diligence with respect to a target company’s compensation plans, employment agreements, employee benefit plans and employee policies is an integral component in evaluating a potential merger or acquisition. For an acquiror, another significant piece of the overall picture with respect to compensation, however, is the impact of a merger or acquisition on executive compensation and the payments and benefits to be provided to executives upon a change-in-control. Below is a brief […]

By | May 23rd, 2015 ||