Workplace Law Update – Q1 wrap up
The first quarter of 2025 is already behind us, and it's been a whirlwind for workplace law—no joke. Here are some of the important updates:
Cracking down on non-compete clauses: On 25 March 2025, the Albanese Government delivered the Federal Budget. Non-compete clauses (which prevent an employee from moving to a competing employer) are being tackled under cost-of-living, with the Government stating:
“Workers should not be handcuffed to their current job when there are better opportunities available for them…Non‑compete clauses are a handbrake on business creation and a speed bump on aspiration.”
Under the Federal Budget, non-compete clauses will be banned from 2027 for workers earning less than $175,000.
This could just be the beginning for the rollback of non-competes, with the Federal Budget also stating the Government will “consider and consult further on non-solicitation clauses for clients and co-workers and non-compete clauses for high-income workers.” It will be interesting to see whether these restrictions are extended to non-solicitation of clients and staff.
Enforcement of positive duty to prevent sexual harassment: the positive duty to prevent sexual harassment (under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984) commenced in December 2022 and, for over a year, the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has had powers to enforce compliance.
Last week it was reported that the Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Dr Anna Cody, said that the AHRC is itself acting proactively – they are scanning media and research reports and looking at individual complaints to inform decisions on their enforcement action – they are not waiting for incidents to “come to us”.
Further, in Queensland from 1 March 2025, businesses must have a Prevention Plan identifying risks, implemented controls and procedures for managing harassment reports. See Risk Collective’s article for more information.
Working from home temperature check: Media would have us believe that working from home is a fast-dwindling privilege. It has been reported that large corporates, like Amazon and Tabcorp, have mandated 5 days in the office whilst others, like Commonwealth Bank, are tackling “coffee badging” – a practice where employees show their face at the office for a short time (perhaps having a coffee) and then return home. In response, Commonwealth Bank told employees they need to spend at least four hours in the office each day to meet their attendance requirements.
The topic has also been tackled in politics – in January 2025 President Trump issued an executive order requiring federal employees in the office full time and in March 2025 Peter Dutton announced plans to mandate a full-time return to office for public servants.
However, the Australian HR Institute (AHRI) released a report in March 2025 which challenges this narrative. AHRI’s report stated that its most recent research:
“…which surveyed almost 1000 employers Australia-wide, found that there has been no increase in the share of employers who are mandating more frequent physical workplace attendance. Instead, the research shows that hybrid-working patterns have stabilised between 2023 and 2025.”
AHRI’s research revealed that the most popular work arrangement in 2025 is for full time employees to be in the office 3 days per week, followed by there being no minimum requirement but an encouragement to be in the office.
It will be interesting to see how the working from home debate evolves in practice throughout 2025.
In any event, employers need to remember that some employees have a legal right to request flexible working arrangements (which includes working from home) and that employers need to take specific steps if they receive such a request.
Businesses also need to be aware of the various other legal duties which come into play when managing work from home arrangements. This includes work health and safety obligations and workers’ compensation (the home office is still the workplace), knowing the hours being worked by employees (are they working unapproved overtime?) and, where relevant, workplace surveillance laws.
Artificial Intelligence: in January 2025, The Future of Work report was handed down by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training. The Committee made 21 recommendations focusing on maximising benefits and managing risks associated with artificial intelligence (AI) and automated decision making (ADM).
The report emphasises that employers must be held accountable for ADM and AI-driven decision making:
“Employer decision making, which can be informed by technology, can have life altering impacts on workers and their families, including termination of employment. As demonstrated by the Robodebt scheme, ADM remains largely incapable of replicating ethics and empathy found in human decision making.”
The report also recognises that ADM and AI can be work health and safety matters – “AI and automation present both benefits and threats to health, safety and wellbeing in the workplace…Safe Work Australia maintain that obligations of safety risk management apply regardless of whether the risk is caused by physical hazards or technology…”
The Committee’s recommendations include the following:
· the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) be reviewed to ensure decision making using AI and ADM is covered, and employers remain liable for these decisions (recommendation 2).
· the Fair Work Commission (FWC) review the National Employment Standards to respond to the adverse effects of significant job redesign caused by emerging technologies (recommendation 4).
· the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and FW Act be reviewed to protect workers, their data, and privacy by banning high-risk uses of worker data and empowering the FWC to manage the dispute resolution process for complaints relating to breaches of workers’ privacy obligations (recommendation 11).
· amend the FW Act to require all organisations that use AI or ADM systems disclose this to existing and prospective workers and customers and banning the use of technologies like AI and ADM systems for final decision making without any human oversight (recommendation 15).
Clerks Award: the FWC is considering whether a working from home (WFH) term should be included in the Clerks—Private Sector Award 2020, acknowledging that this award is the most commonly used award under which WFH was likely to occur and that the term that is developed via the process may serve as a model for incorporation to other awards. This matter has been ongoing in 2025, with submissions due in May 2025.
Psychosocial regulations in Victoria: in February 2025, the Victorian Government announced that it will introduce regulations in relation to psychosocial hazards by the end of 2025. According to WorkSafe, a psychosocial hazard is “anything in the working environment that could cause an employee to have a negative psychological response”, and may include bullying, sexual harassment, high job demands, low job control etc. Although the regulations have not yet been introduced, employers already have the obligation to maintain a working environment that is safe and without risk to health, where health includes psychological health.
These are some of the workplace law updates that businesses need to be aware of in 2025. Stay tuned for more developments as the year unfolds.