In 2024, we saw three key employment trends emerge:
• Surge in employment-related claims
• Rise of psychological injury claims
• Increase in workplace complaints
Tune in to a fireside chat with Mandi Xu (Principal) and Sara Ibrahim (Lawyer) from our Sydney Workplace Relations, Employment and Safety team as they explore the factors that are driving these trends, what is expected for 2025 and key actionable steps that will help employers navigate these challenges in the workplace.
We are seeing a growing trend of psychological injury claims arising in the workplace.
The impact and costs of these claims for businesses and organisations are significant.
Increasingly, we are seeing these types of claims emerge in the context of an organisational restructure, change management or performance improvement process, which give rise to a range of psychosocial hazards and risks, particularly where the process is poorly implemented.
The blurred boundaries between work and personal life in the modern workplace provides an added layer of complexity for businesses and organisations seeking to implement measures to prevent psychosocial hazards at work.
In the post-#MeToo era and hybrid work environment, we have seen a noticeable increase in the volume and complexity of workplace complaints (particularly, those involving allegations of bullying, harassment, sexual harassment and discrimination).
Employees are also more willing to challenge internal processes as well as the findings and outcomes of a workplace investigation.
We expect the key employment law trends observed from 2024 to continue in 2025:
- rise of applications in the Fair Work Commission – unfair dismissal and general protections claims will remain the primary legal avenues for employees;
- rise of workplace psychological injury claims will continue to outpace physical injury claims; and
- growing employee awareness of their rights and workplace protections.
For businesses and organisations tackling these challenges in the workplace, we recommend:
- undertaking a legal review of internal policies, procedures and processes; and
- engaging us at the earliest opportunity in the process so that we can:
- help you identify potential psychosocial hazards and risks;
- provide guidance and recommendations on measures to eliminate or minimise those hazards and risks; and
- in circumstances where those risks cannot be eliminated, we can help place your organisation in a stronger position to defend any future employee claims that may arise.
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