Digital workplace law

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

This unit covers the following topics:

• The impact of the new digital workplace on the nature of work and the traditional legal categories of worker, the burgeoning of consultants, 'homework' and flexible employment arrangements and their significance.
• Use of social media sites, eg, 'facebook', and formal and informal internet sites for background checks in recruitment and discipline of employees.
• Rights and responsibilities of employers and employees in a workplace transformed by new technology and electronic means and impact of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) on right to flexible work 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 the digital 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.
• Occupational health and safety duties and rights in a digital workplace.