Postgraduate - UnitLAW7279 - Electronic workplace law

This unit analyses the contemporary employment and labour law issues relating to the modern workplace in the electronic era.

This unit covers the following topics:

• The impact of the new electronic workplace on the nature of work and the traditional legal categories of worker, including the employee/contractor distinction.
• Use of social media sites, eg, 'facebook', and various formal and informal internet sites for background checks in recruitment and discipline of employees.
• The burgeoning of consultants, 'homework' and flexible employment arrangements and their significance.
• Rights and responsibilities of employer and employee in a workplace transformed by new technology and electronic means and impact of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) on right to flexible employment and working from home.
• Changed employment rights and duties in the new contractual arrangements, including redundancy, because of the introduction of new technology, and impact of modern awards and enterprise agreements.
• Privacy legislation and its significance in relation to the electronic workplace.
• Employment practices and policy about emails and use of internet and the relevance of unfair dismissal laws and the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) in enforcing internet employment policy.
• Electronic surveillance of employees and the workplace, including via social media sites, and rights and duties of employers and workers and the 'control' of employees' private lives.
• Sexual harassment through the internet, the application of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) and the impact of the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic).
• Occupational health and safety duties and rights in an electronic workplace.