Hello!
I have been busy compiling your favourite workplace newsletter – a combination of things you need to know and things that will make you laugh out loud.
In this issue there’s a workplace trend, news snippets, a case update and sage advice in the “Dear Jen” column.
And of course, I share my recommendations for your viewing pleasure.
I hope this newsletter brings you some wisdom and joy!
Cheers,
Jen
What trend am I seeing across the workplace world?
Sexual harassment. Four separate matters in one week.
The maddening part? My clients are already doing the work.
They are training staff, updating policies and making it very clear that “Don’t Sexually Harass People” is not optional.
That is why, when there are allegations, the response has to be fast, firm and focused on the behaviour.
Job of the Week: Travel Tester
Do you own a passport, a flexible calendar and the emotional resilience required to endure luxury accommodation in the name of content creation?
A travel company is searching for its first ever Travel Tester, with the successful applicant receiving $50,000 worth of travel for two, including flights and accommodation across destinations such as the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Australia.
At last, a role where being “excellent at holidaying” may be an inherent requirement.
See: Luxury Escapes Travel Tester Competition
The Cost of What Isn’t Being Said
Here’s a number that stops people: 35.7 weeks.
That’s the median time an employee with a mental health workers’ compensation claim spends off work – compared to 8 weeks for every other serious injury. Median payout: $67,400. Growth over the past decade: 161%.
This is the cost of what isn’t being said.
The hazard isn’t a wet floor or a missing railing. It’s avoidance.
Physical risks are visible and hard to ignore. Psychological ones accumulate quietly, in the space where someone should have addressed a performance issue, named a behaviour, or resolved a conflict before it became a crisis.
Having difficult conversations isn’t a leadership nicety – it’s the railing on the staircase. Organisations that do it well spend less time explaining to tribunals how things got so far.
AI-Fuelled Claims Put Pressure on Fair Work Commission
The Fair Work Commission is not just busy. It is being pushed into crisis by a surge in dismissal claims, including claims helped along by AI and low-bar filing processes. The Albanese Government is now reaching for reforms, but employers are entitled to wonder why the fire alarm had to be ringing first.
The numbers are ugly. By April, dismissal applications for 2025-26 had already matched last year’s record high of 44,000. General protections dismissal claims are reportedly on track to rise by 80% over three years. No wonder the Commission is calling crisis.
Take-Out Point: For employers – do the termination properly, because you may need to defend it. But don’t assume that it will stop a claim. Right now, it can feel like the system is practically handing out invitations.
Fortunately, changes are afoot, with the Commission introducing new processes designed to move matters through the system more efficiently.
See: AI-fuelled surge in dismissal claims tips umpire into crisis
Increase in National Minimum and Award Wages
Wages are going up. The Fair Work Commission has confirmed a 4.75% increase to the national minimum wage and modern award minimum rates from 1 July 2026 – bringing the weekly minimum to $1,004.90, or $26.44 an hour.
The new rates kick in from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026. If you haven’t checked your payroll settings lately, now’s the time.
CASE YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT
New Zealand Worker Can Bring Australian Unfair Dismissal Claim
A New Zealand-based employee of an Australian company has been allowed to bring an unfair dismissal claim, even though he lived and worked in New Zealand.
The Fair Work Commission found the employee could bring the claim because his employment contract was formed in Australia, when the employer received his emailed acceptance in Victoria.
The Commission accepted there was a valid reason for dismissal, however, the dismissal was unfair because the employer failed to warn him that his performance could lead to dismissal, failed to give him a proper opportunity to respond, and did not comply with the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code.
The employee was awarded the equivalent of 2 weeks’ pay.
Take-Out Point: Australian employers with overseas workers should not assume that geography keeps them outside the unfair dismissal system. It matters where the contract is made, and how performance concerns are managed.
See: David Sanderson v Brightest Australia Pty. Ltd. [2026] FWC 1633 (6 May 2026)
18 June – Sustainable Gastronomy Day – A day for celebrating local produce, sustainable food systems and the colleague who can turn a salad into a TED Talk.
21 June – International Day of Yoga – A reminder that flexibility is important, although apparently not when it comes to attending the 9.00am meeting.
23 June – United Nations Public Service Day – A day for recognising people doing important work inside imperfect systems, which is basically every workplace after someone tries to book the meeting room.
27 June – Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day – A salute to small business owners, who deal with staff, customers, payroll, invoices, compliance and the printer’s emotional needs. Usually before anyone else has opened Outlook.
1 July 2026 – Payday Super commences. Start preparing now! Please don’t leave it until 30 June.
1 July 2026 – Commonwealth Paid Parental Leave Scheme increases again and reaches 26 weeks, paid at the minimum wage.
Dear Jen,
One of our employees has started using their out-of-office message less as an administrative update and more as a bold act of personal expression.
Recent examples include: “I am currently offline honouring my boundaries in a world that rewards burnout”, “I will respond when capitalism releases its grip on my inbox”, and “I am away today because Monday is a social construct and I no longer consent to it.”
Part of me admires the flair, but I assume it’s OK to direct them to use our standard out-of-office message?
Cheers,
Mortified Manager
Dear Mortified Manager,
Yes, you can direct them to use the standard message.
Out-of-office replies are meant to be the cardigan of workplace communication – useful, predictable and unlikely to trigger a staff meeting.
Make it about consistency, not censorship.
Quirky auto-replies are fine, when it’s your business, but when you’re using the employer’s inbox, the message needs to stay on-brand.
They can dislike Monday on their own time. The inbox just needs to know when they will be back.
Cheers,
Jen
Sam Pang’s Ground Up (ABC iview) is brilliant. Think Utopia meets Tasmania’s doomed bid to get an AFL team. The opening credits announce that “The following events never took place. Particularly between May 2023 and October 2026”. That’s exactly the sort of disclaimer that suggests someone has kept minutes. Laugh out loud comedy gold.
Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Colman Domingo, and a group of long-married friends who vacation together every season of the year. Rarely does a second season justify the first. This one does. The Four Seasons (Netflix) is the show I keep pressing on people who say there’s nothing good to watch – and I am never wrong about this. Begin at Season 1. That’s not a suggestion.
BritBox’s After the Flood returns for Season 2, with Waterside trading rising waters for wildfires – because apparently this town cannot catch a meteorological break. Detective Jo Marshall (Sophie Rundle) is drawn into a double murder investigation involving corporate chemical dumping, while police secrets begin bubbling dangerously close to the surface. Corruption, cover-ups and climate-adjacent chaos: all the ingredients for a very satisfying watch.
In the interests of newsletter research, I watched Office Romance on Netflix. It stars J-Lo and Brett Goldstein but I lasted just five minutes. Consider this your workplace health and safety warning. Don’t watch. Just don’t.
