The implications for primary carer parental leave from a recent Fair Work case

A recent Fair Work decision noted that a primary carer doesn’t have to be the sole carer in order to receive primary carer parental leave. Here, a senior lawyer unpacks the decision and what it means for employers and lawyers moving forward.

In this episode of The HR Leader Podcast, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Meredith Kennedy, a special counsel at national law firm Maddocks, about her work in the firm’s employment, safety, and people practice, the case of Metro Tasmania Pty Ltd v Australian Rail, Tram and Bus Industry Union (including what happened at first instance and then in front of the full bench of the Fair Work Commission), how “primary carer” was defined in the proceedings and relevant enterprise agreement, and how and why the FWC full bench reached its conclusions.

Kennedy also delves into why this matter is so significant, the takeaways for employers nationwide, the need to ensure that workplace policies and frameworks account for all circumstances, overcoming collective biases, riding the wave of sociocultural shifts, best practice for lawyers in this space, and what else such lawyers need to be looking out for.