Martin Taylor Associates Logo

Latest News

Changes to parental and workplace sexual harassment laws

New workplace changes to paid parental leave, and workplace sexual harassment laws.

.

Paid Parental Leave (PPL): What's changed?

CURRENT PROVISIONS
Under the current PLP scheme, eligible individuals who are the primary carer for a child who is born or adopted get up to 18 weeks’ pay at the National Minimum Wage (‘NMW’).  This is fully funded by the Australian Government, though employers must process the payments through their payroll.

The first 12 weeks of PLP instalments must be received in one continuous period within 12 months of the birth or adoption of a child. The remaining 30 payable days can be taken flexibly within 24 months of the birth or adoption of a child. This coincides with an employee’s rights under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (‘FW Act’) to return to work after parental leave and the ability to take a maximum of 30 days’ parental leave flexibly within 24 months of the child’s birth or adoption date.

Eligible fathers and other partners can get up to two weeks’ payment (one-off) at the NMW under the Dad and Partner Pay (DAPP) scheme.

Individuals must claim PLP or DAPP through Centrelink and eligibility for the schemes is assessed by Services Australia (formerly the Department of Human Services) in which relevant work, income and other eligibility tests under the Paid Parental Leave Act 2010 (Cth) (‘PPL Act’) must be met.

New changes

From 1 July 2023, PLP and DAPP will be combined into one scheme which will provide eligible parent couples or single parents up to 20 weeks of PLP at the NMW. DAPP will no longer exist as a separate scheme. Eligible parents must not be working during this time or must be on leave (paid or unpaid).

Additionally,

  • the whole 20 weeks of PLP instalments can be received flexibly in multiple blocks within 24 months of the child’s birth or adoption date (removing the requirement of the 12 weeks of PLP instalments being received in one continuous period and the 30 days’ cap previously mentioned);
  • parents will be able to access PLP even when on paid leave (e.g. employer-funded parental leave, annual leave or long service leave), and in between periods of paid work;
  • birth mothers or first adoptive parents will have to give approval to share any PLP days, and if shared with a partner, parents will be able to access PLP at the same time;
  • for PLP that is shared between a couple, at least two weeks will be reserved for each partner to use with any unused amount of PLP days lost if not used within 24 months of the child’s birth or adoption date;
  • if a person does not meet the individual income limit of $156,647 (i.e earns more than this amount), there will be a combined family income limit of $350,000 which will be applied instead (this limit will be used whether a person is single or partnered); and
  • there will be special circumstance exceptions to the work test for individuals whose ability to work during the ‘work test period’ are impacted by family and domestic violence, a serious medical condition (for either you or an immediate family member you care for), or a natural disaster declared by the Commonwealth or a state or territory.

Read more.

New workplace sexual harassment laws

Prohibiting workplace sexual harassment
The Fair Work Act has been amended to prohibit (or ban) sexual harassment in connection with work, including in the workplace. These changes apply from 6 March 2023 and expand the previous protections around sexual harassment in the workplace.

The protection applies to:

  • workers including employees, contractors, work experience students and volunteers
  • future workers
  • people conducting a business or undertaking.

The protection won’t apply to sexual harassment that starts before 6 March 2023.

New Fair Work Commission powers
The Commission now has greater powers to deal with workplace sexual harassment.

In addition to its existing ‘stop sexual harassment order’ powers, the Commission can deal with disputes about sexual harassment by:

  • conciliation
  • mediation, or
  • making a recommendation or expressing an opinion.

Hot Issues

Contact Us

Orbost

Andrew Martin CA

Born in Mansfield in the Victorian high country, Andrew started school in Orbost. After graduating from Melbourne University in 1992, Andrew commenced his career with what was then Price Waterhouse (now PWC). Andrew moved to Bairnsdale in 1995 and has lived in East Gippsland ever since. One of the founders of the practice in 2000, the year GST came to Australia, Andrew is married to Michelle, a third generation East Gippsland resident, and proud father of Nelson and Georgia, who attended local schools for their primary and secondary education.

Andrew and Georgia are keen participants in triathlon and multi-sport events, and in 2022 participated as father and daughter in the Age Group Triathlon World Championships in Abu Dahbi. This year, they will participate together in the Multi-Sport World Championships in Townsville.

As the owner and founder of a business in East Gippsland, Andrew understands the local issues that impact on your business. The impact of flood, bush fires, drought, and the vagaries of world commodity prices can be better understood when you are deeply immersed in the local community.

Dealing with banks and the Australian Taxation Office when you live in a rural area is easier to understand when they happen in your back yard.

Ryan Gaul CA

Ryan, a Chartered Accountant, relocated from Essendon to Lakes Entrance in 2020 to be with his wife, Morgan. In Melbourne, Ryan worked under the guidance of accountant and player manager Peter Jess, serving clients that ranged from small to medium-sized businesses, AFL players, entertainers, and athletes.

After his move to Lakes Entrance, he joined Martin Taylor Associates. Since joining the firm Ryan has enjoyed the challenges of the agricultural sector and has worked closely with Andrew to develop his knowledge in this area.

Ryan is actively involved in the local community. He joined the Buchan Football Netball Club as a player and took on the role of Treasurer. He also serves as the Treasurer for the East Gippsland Farm Dog Group. Ryan’s wife Morgan runs her own speech pathology business which services the East Gippsland region.

Jan Roach

Jan has worked in public accounting in Orbost for 40 years and is one of the founders of the practice. Married to Johno (now retired long-term builder), proud mother of Adam, Paul and Nick and proud grandmother to Owen, Tess, Teagan, and Millie.

Having been in business, Jan understands compliance can sometimes be overwhelming, and will help you navigate the right path. Jan has a strong affiliation with our trade and primary producer clients.

Kerry Ellis

Kerry has worked in administration in public accounting and legal practices for nearly 15 years. Kerry understands when you contact us, you need to talk to someone who has or can get an answer to your query. Kerry controls the workflow in our practice and manages our interactions with the ATO, ASIC and the banks. Kerry understands the challenges of providing information to big bank data centres and dealing with Centrelink.

Tax Diary

General Calculators

Accounting Videos

Tax Deductions

Secure File Transfer

Secure File Transfer is a facility that allows the safe and secure exchange of confidential files or documents between you and us.

Email is very convenient in our business world, there is no doubting that. However email messages and attachments can be intercepted by third parties, putting your privacy and identity at risk if used to send confidential files or documents. Secure File Transfer eliminates this risk.

Login to Secure File Transfer, or contact us if you require a username and password.

General Disclaimer

The material on this website has been prepared for general information purposes only and not as specific advice to any particular person. Any advice contained on the website is General Advice and does not take into account any person’s individual investment objectives, financial situation or needs.

Before making an investment decision based on this advice you should consider whether it is appropriate to your particular circumstances, alternatively seek professional advice.

Privacy Policy

Martin Taylor Associates is committed to providing quality services to you and this policy outlines our ongoing obligations to you in respect of how we manage your Personal Information.

We have adopted the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Privacy Act). The NPPs govern the way in which we collect, use, disclose, store, secure and dispose of your Personal Information.

A copy of the Australian Privacy Principles may be obtained from the website of The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at https://www.oaic.gov.au/.

What is Personal Information and why do we collect it?

Personal Information is information or an opinion that identifies an individual. Examples of Personal Information we collect includes names, addresses, email addresses, phone and facsimile numbers.

This Personal Information is obtained in many ways including correspondence, by telephone and facsimile, by email, via our website www.martintaylor.com.au, from your website, from media and publications, from other publicly available sources, from cookies and from third parties. We don't guarantee website links or policy of authorised third parties.

We collect your Personal Information for the primary purpose of providing our services to you, providing information to our clients and marketing. We may also use your Personal Information for secondary purposes closely related to the primary purpose, in circumstances where you would reasonably expect such use or disclosure. You may unsubscribe from our mailing/marketing lists at any time by contacting us in writing.

When we collect Personal Information we will, where appropriate and where possible, explain to you why we are collecting the information and how we plan to use it.

Sensitive Information

Sensitive information is defined in the Privacy Act to include information or opinion about such things as an individual's racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of a political association, religious or philosophical beliefs, membership of a trade union or other professional body, criminal record or health information.

Sensitive information will be used by us only:

Third Parties

Where reasonable and practicable to do so, we will collect your Personal Information only from you. However, in some circumstances we may be provided with information by third parties. In such a case we will take reasonable steps to ensure that you are made aware of the information provided to us by the third party.

Disclosure of Personal Information

Your Personal Information may be disclosed in a number of circumstances including the following:

Security of Personal Information

Your Personal Information is stored in a manner that reasonably protects it from misuse and loss and from unauthorized access, modification or disclosure.

When your Personal Information is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was obtained, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify your Personal Information. However, most of the Personal Information is or will be stored in client files which will be kept by us for a minimum of 7 years.

Access to your Personal Information

You may access the Personal Information we hold about you and to update and/or correct it, subject to certain exceptions. If you wish to access your Personal Information, please contact us in writing.

Martin Taylor Associates will not charge any fee for your access request, but may charge an administrative fee for providing a copy of your Personal Information.

In order to protect your Personal Information we may require identification from you before releasing the requested information.

Maintaining the Quality of your Personal Information

It is an important to us that your Personal Information is up to date. We will take reasonable steps to make sure that your Personal Information is accurate, complete and up-to-date. If you find that the information we have is not up to date or is inaccurate, please advise us as soon as practicable so we can update our records and ensure we can continue to provide quality services to you.

Policy Updates

This Policy may change from time to time and is available on our website.

Privacy Policy Complaints and Enquiries

If you have any queries or complaints about our Privacy Policy please contact us at:

(03) 5152 6213