Right to Disconnect

From August 26 2024, Australian workers have a legal right to disconnect from the workplace outside of working hours.

The changes to the Fair Work Act 2009 aim to combat the stress and burnout caused by technology-driven ‘always on’ working culture. As an employer, you must take steps to support this new right.

EMPLOYEE PROTECTIONS

• Employees can refuse to monitor, read, or respond to workrelated communications outside their working hours.

• Employees are safeguarded against negative employer reactions if they refuse unreasonable out-of-hours contact.

• Exceptions apply if the refusal is deemed unreasonable.

REASONABLE WORKING HOURS

• A full-time work week is 38 hours unless stated otherwise in employment agreements.

• Employers can require employees to work additional reasonable hours. e.g. completing a project before a deadline or working an extra hour to close up.

REASONABLE ADDITIONAL HOURS

When determining whether additional hours are considered reasonable, consider the following factors:

• Remuneration: The employee’s pay level.

• Notice: How much and when notice was provided.

• Health & Safety: Any risks associated with overtime.

• Employee Circumstances: Their role, level of responsibility and their personal situation such as family and carer duties.

CRITERIA FOR DISCONNECTING

When determining if an employee’s refusal to respond is unreasonable, consider the following factors:

• Purpose of Contact: The reason behind the contact.

• Method and Disruption: How the contact was made and its disruption level.

• Compensation: Extent of compensation for being available.

• Role and Responsibility: Employee’s job nature and responsibilities.

• Personal Circumstances: Including family and carer duties.

WORK PRACTICES ASSESSMENT

To support the right to disconnect, employers should:

• Evaluate current work practices to identify unreasonable expectations to monitor or respond to out-of-hours contact

• Ensure employees are compensated adequately if they are expected to remain available outside work hours.

COMPLIANCE PREPARATION

Steps to maintain legal compliance with the Fair Work Act 2009 include:

• Updating current policies to reflect the right to disconnect.

• Training managers and staff on the new guidelines.

• Establishing clear communication protocols for out-of hours contact.

LegalVision

Airplane Fuel Consumption Per Minute

Check out the fuel consumption per minute of different airplanes — from small propeller planes to giant airliners and powerful fighter jets.

Franchising and Leasing: Legal Issues to Consider When Securing a Location

Franchise and lease agreements often conflict, so review both together, decide early whether the franchisor or franchisee should hold the lease and do thorough due diligence, including franchisor approval and checking use and assignment clauses.

Securing the right location is crucial for franchise success, but the intersection of franchise agreements and commercial leases can create complex legal considerations. Understanding these issues before committing to a lease can save franchisees significant time, money, and potential disputes down the track.

This article will examine the important legal considerations franchisees must navigate when securing locations, including the complex relationship between franchise agreements and lease terms, essential due diligence requirements, the strategic decision of who should hold the lease, and the important restrictions around use and assignment that can impact both current operations and future business transfers.

Understanding the Franchise-Lease Relationship

The relationship between franchise agreements and commercial leases is one of the most complex aspects of establishing a franchise business. These two legal documents must work in harmony, yet they are often negotiated separately and may contain conflicting requirements. Franchise agreements typically specify detailed operational requirements, including premises standards, location criteria, signage specifications, fit-out requirements, and trading hours. Simultaneously, commercial leases impose their own set of obligations and restrictions that may not align with the franchisor’s requirements.

This creates a situation where you must meet both sets of rules, where franchisees must satisfy both their franchisor’s operational requirements and their landlord’s lease conditions. When conflicts arise between these obligations, franchisees can find themselves caught between competing legal duties. For instance, a franchise system may require specific external signage or 24-hour operations, but the lease may restrict signage rights or impose particular trading hours. Such conflicts can create significant operational challenges and potentially lead to breaches of either agreement.

Who Will Hold the Lease?

One of the most strategic decisions in franchise leasing arrangements concerns whether the lease should be held directly by the franchisee or by the franchisor, with a licence granted to the franchisee.

Franchisor Holding the Lease (With Licence to Franchisee):

Greater negotiating power with landlords, particularly for nationally recognised brands.
Potential for better rental rates and lease terms.
Reduced complexity for franchise grant and transfer.
Consideration: Additional disclosure requirements for retail premises.
Consideration: Franchisee may still provide a bank guarantee/security deposit and obtain insurance to meet the requirements of the lease.
Risk: Franchisee loses all premises rights if the franchise relationship ends.
Risk: Limited franchisee control over renewals and rent negotiations.
Risk: Franchisor is primarily liable to the landlord for default by the franchisee.

Franchisee Holding the Lease Directly:

Stronger rights to stay on the premises for the franchisee.
Direct control over lease renewals and negotiations.
Protection of investment in fit-out and premises development, including landlord contributions.
Drawback: Reduced negotiating power compared to large franchise systems.
Consideration: Franchise agreements typically still require franchisor consent for assignments and the right to take over the lease if the franchise agreement ends.

Regardless of the chosen structure, franchise agreements typically require franchisor consent for any lease assignments or transfers, creating additional complexity in future business transactions. This requirement must be carefully considered alongside the lease’s own assignment provisions to ensure future flexibility is preserved.

Due Diligence Before Signing

Before committing to any lease arrangement, franchisees must navigate a comprehensive due diligence process that extends far beyond typical commercial lease considerations. You must get your franchisor’s approval before committing to a site, so build this step into lease negotiations. It is essential to check that your lease term and renewal rights line up with your franchise agreement’s duration. Being mindful of the different requirements and timeframes for exercising any renewal is key to minimising interruptions.

The franchisor approval process typically involves submitting detailed information about the proposed premises, including complete lease terms, site plans, demographic data, and location specifications. Franchisors often maintain strict criteria regarding foot traffic patterns, parking availability, street visibility, proximity to competitors, and local demographic profiles. Franchisor approval may take weeks or months, especially in newer systems that are still setting site selection criteria.

Experienced franchisees tie the lease to franchisor approval, protecting themselves in case the franchisor later rejects the site. This approach requires careful drafting to ensure the condition is enforceable while maintaining the landlord’s confidence in the transaction’s completion.

Beyond franchisor approval requirements, comprehensive demographic and market analysis forms a crucial component of pre-lease due diligence. This means checking whether the area has the right customers, how much competition is nearby, population and growth trends, and other signs of economic strength. Some franchise agreements set minimum standards for these factors, so you may need to prove they’re met before moving ahead. If you’re leasing retail space, it’s also worth checking whether the landlord has plans for future renovations, as these could affect your business.

Use and Assignment Restrictions

Lease limits on use and assignment create added challenges for franchisees beyond standard tenancy considerations. Ensure your permitted use clause covers today’s franchise activities and allows flexibility for future changes.

Franchise systems regularly update services, add products, or change operations to meet market demands and competition. Narrow permitted use clauses may block you from adopting system changes, causing clashes between your lease and franchise agreement. Similarly, your franchisor may require renovations and changes to branding or renovations, but major works also need landlord approval. Experienced franchisees secure clauses that allow for changes across the franchise network and permit reasonable adaptations to the business model.

Assignment and subletting in franchises can be complex, as approval is typically required from both the landlord and the franchisor. Before selling or partnering, dual approval can complicate matters, as buyers must satisfy both landlord and franchisor requirements.

The timing and coordination of these approval processes require careful management and coordination. Franchise and lease approvals often run on different timelines, which can create conflicts in completing the deal. Some franchises provide streamlined approvals with lease assignments, but many franchisees must handle these approvals separately.

Key Takeaways

The overlap between franchising and leasing presents unique legal challenges that necessitate careful consideration and professional guidance. Engage experienced legal counsel to review your franchise and lease agreements together, ensuring aligned obligations and protecting your investment. Conduct proper due diligence and understand legal issues before signing to prevent costly disputes and secure franchise success.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is it important to review both the franchise agreement and the lease together?
Franchise agreements and commercial leases often contain different requirements that may conflict. Franchisees must comply with both, which can create problems if, for example, the franchisor requires 24-hour trading but the lease restricts operating hours. Reviewing both agreements together helps avoid disputes and breaches.

What should franchisees consider before signing a lease?

Franchisees should make sure the lease term matches the franchise agreement, secure franchisor approval of the site, and investigate demographic and market factors such as customer base and competition. It is also important to check permitted use clauses and ensure future flexibility for changes in the franchise system.

William Green
30 September
legalvision.com.au

Accrued leave: take a holiday or take the payment?

If retirement is on the horizon and you have a large amount of accrued leave, you may well be contemplating whether to take a big holiday now, or just take the lump sum payment when you retire. There are some tax, super and possibly social security implications you should consider.

Superannuation

You receive superannuation guarantee contributions from your employer on the pay you receive while you’re on holidays. However, no super guarantee is payable on payments of lump sum leave entitlements upon your retirement. You could increase your retirement savings by a nice little bonus by taking those holidays before you retire!

Taking a holiday now could also extend the time you can contribute to super.

If you’re aged 67 to 75 and are looking to contribute one last chunk of money to super after you retire, be aware of the “work test” that applies to claim a tax deduction for those super contributions. If you haven’t worked for 40 hours in a 30-day consecutive period in the financial year when you make the contribution, you don’t meet the work test that is required to claim a tax deduction for your personal super contributions.

However, there’s a once-off exception for people with less than $300,000 in super, which allows them to use the “work test exemption” from the prior year to make deductible.

By taking your holidays now (instead of taking your accrued leave as a lump sum payment), and clocking up 40 work hours in a month in the next financial year, you may be able to extend the time you have to contribute to super.

A lump sum payment of accrued leave is taxed in the year you receive it. When deferring retirement into a new financial year by taking leave, you may increase the cap for concessional tax treatment of employment termination payments like golden handshakes.

Additionally, you may have a lower marginal tax bracket in the new financial year, because you may have lower working income

If you’re looking to claim the Age Pension when you retire, a lump sum received on retirement won’t count towards the Centrelink income test, but it will be an assessable asset, depending on how you invest it. So taking that accrued leave as a lump sum could push some people over the assets limit to receive the Age Pension.

On the other hand, your pay while on holidays won’t be counted in determining whether you qualify for Age Pension after you retire.

In summary, taking leave can provide more super contributions, tax flexibility and additional leave accrual, while taking the entitlement as a lump sum at retirement may allow earlier access to social security and, in some cases, favourable tax treatment.

Speaking with your tax adviser about your personal situation, well in advance of retirement, can pay off in so many ways.

Acctweb

Working out your Work From Home (WFH) expenses – 2025 Rules

To be eligible to claim working from WFH expenses, you need to be genuinely working from home to fulfil your employment duties, not just checking emails or taking occasional calls.

You must also incur additional running expenses because of your WFH arrangement. These additional costs can typically include energy expenses for heating, cooling and lighting, home and mobile internet or data, phone expenses, and stationery or office supplies.

You need records that accurately track your WFH hours, such as keeping a diary or timesheets covering a representative four-week period showing your usual work pattern, or you can maintain a record of your entire year’s WFH hours.

The fixed rate method simplifies your calculations by applying a set rate of 70 cents per hour for each hour you work from home. If you choose this method, you can’t claim additional separate deductions for expenses already covered under the fixed rate method, such as stationery supplies.

The actual cost method requires you to keep detailed records of all additional costs incurred while working from home. You’ll need to track your WFH hours and maintain comprehensive records for all your WFH expenses, and demonstrate the proportion that relates to work.

It’s important to understand what you can’t claim when working from home. This includes items your employer might provide at the office, such as tea or coffee or other general household items. You also can’t make a claim for employer-provided laptops or mobile phones, or expenses which your employer has reimbursed.

You can make separate claims for expenses not covered by either of the above methods, such as work-related technology and office furniture like chairs, desks, computers and bookshelves, as well as repairs or maintenance on these items.

If you use depreciating assets for both work and personal purposes that cost more than $300, you’ll need to calculate the work-related proportion and only claim that percentage as a deduction for the decline in value over the effective life of the item. For items costing $300 or less, such as keyboards or computer mice, you can claim an immediate deduction in the year of purchase rather than depreciating them over time.

For a work-related expense to be deductible, it must directly relate to earning your income.

The differences in clothing can be blurred – so for example – overalls are claimable for a construction industry worker, but a suit or dress is not claimable for an office worker or presenter.

Acctweb

Div 296 must be considered ‘holistically’, IPA says

As heated debates over the proposed Division 296 tax continue to be drawn out, the IPA has called on the government to “reconsider problematic areas”.

The Institute of Public Accountants is pushing for key reconsiderations to certain “problem” areas in the proposed Division 296 on superannuation, as it believes the current proposal would not be fit for purpose.

Letty Chen, IPA tax and super advisor, said while IPA supported sensible reforms to make the superannuation concessions more equitable, it believed the current proposal would create inequitable outcomes and practical compliance challenges for affected taxpayers.

The inclusion of unrealised capital gains in the calculation of earnings, the lack of a refund mechanism for negative earnings, the absence of indexation for the $3 million threshold and the lack of optionality for funds to use established tax principles to calculate earnings on a member-by-member basis were the key areas the professional accounting body objected to.

Chen said that the proposed methodology represented a significant departure from accepted tax orthodoxy and principle.

“A fundamental tenet of Australian tax law is that income and gains should only be taxed once they’ve been earned or realised.”

“This measure would tax unrealised gains, which will create serious cashflow issues for taxpayers, especially for small business owners and farmers who hold illiquid assets like real property in their self-managed super funds.”

From the key areas proposed by IPA, it was pushed that these reconsiderations and appropriate amendments could be made by limiting the tax to realised earnings and capital gains, implementation of transitional rules that allowed affected taxpayers to restructure their affairs without penalty and index the $3 million threshold annually to account for inflation and ensure the system remained fair and equitable over time.

Forcing the sale of these assets to pay tax liabilities could be disruptive and may happen at a time of depressed market values, Chen said.

“There’s a strong possibility a member could be cumulatively taxed on investments that ultimately make an overall loss, with no real recourse to recover any tax previously paid.”

“For someone in their 20s or 30s today, $3 million when they near retirement might be equal to a fraction of that amount in today’s money due to inflation.”

This list of asks from IPA comes after The Australian Financial Review reported earlier in the month that anonymous sources had revealed the government had paused its plans to introduce the $3 million super tax in its current form.

Peter Burgess, SMSFA chief executive, told Accountants Daily’s sister brand, SMSF Adviser, that he believed the government could be concerned with the timing of the determinations – specifically when those impacted by the tax would need to report.

“The government is obviously very concerned about the taxation of unrealised capital gains, and the unintended consequences that flow from that. I think the other thing is that the government is trying to position the Labor Party as pro-aspirational, and if it is genuine about that then you can't get a better example of a tax on aspiration than this tax,” he said.

“It is completely at odds with what it’s trying to achieve in terms of encouraging innovation, productivity and aspiration so, there is little wonder there is growing opposition to this tax from within the Labor party ranks.”

However, if the tax was set to be introduced as is, Chen said amendments needed to be made to protect trust and integrity in Australia’s superannuation system.

“The threshold must be indexed. Superannuation is designed for long-term saving, and policy should reflect long-term impact and provide certainty.”

“Ultimately, reform of superannuation tax concessions must be considered holistically. Piecemeal measures such as the Division 296 tax introduce other inequities and greater complexity. Poorly considered changes will undermine confidence in superannuation.”

More super changes looming on the horizon

Still proposed to start on 1 July 2026, changes to payday super are fast approaching and are set to ensure that employee superannuation guarantees (SG) are remitted in line with payment of salary and wages.

Pitcher Partners outlined that despite the extensive timeline before the changes came into play, businesses needed to be prepared for them as the start date would arrive quickly.

The accounting firm said adequate preparation was essential, as the implementation and ongoing adherence to payday super would increase the administrative burden on employers as they transitioned to new processes, systems and/or tools.

“While the proposed introduction of payday super appears simple, the interdependencies of payroll systems, external clearing houses, superannuation funds and regulators means that a mere oversight could have a significant flow-on effect,” Pitcher Partners said.

With the changes, there would be exceptions for new employees, where an employer makes contributions to a stapled fund that is rejected, out-of-cycle payments and exceptional circumstances such as natural disasters.

The firm noted that an important catch within the proposed legislation change was that it would intend to apply SG obligations on payments to persons who met the ‘extended definition’ of employee, such as third-party contractors, which required specific rules.

Imogen Wilson
16 September 2025
accountantsdaily.com.au

How to detect and prevent elder abuse when advising older clients: RSM

Elder abuse is an unfortunate reality that some accountants and advisors come across whilst working with older clients. So, what are the red flags, and what can be done in response?

Last Wednesday (24 September), RSM Perth partner Katie Timms told the Class Ignite conference about common red flags that could signal elder abuse, and how to respond as an accountant or adviser.

“[Elder abuse] is becoming more and more of a problem and it's that horrible squirmy feeling in your stomach where you think, is this kid actually just helping out or is there something murky going on there, and what's our obligation?” she told the conference.

A 2021 study by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) found that an estimated 14.8 per cent of Australians over 65 had experienced elder abuse in the year prior. Financial abuse was the third most common subtype of abuse.

AIFS has warned that elder abuse will become more prevalent as Australia’s population ages, given that the 65 and over age group is expected to more than double from 3.8 million to 8.8 million in the 25 years following 2021.

As the risks of elder abuse grow, Timms said accountants helping older clients needed to be able to spot the red flags and respond appropriately.

“This is actually what our professional bodies suggest around this concept of elder abuse. Do you actually have questions about capacity?” she said.

“Is there an obvious conflict of interest in what is being discussed? Have you considered the motives and the intentions of the individuals in the room? Have you spoken to that individual independently without that potential influencer?”

Timms warned that it could be difficult or impossible to get money and assets back once a financial arrangement had been put into place, underscoring the importance of early intervention when something appeared amiss.

One key step to mitigate the risk of elder abuse was to consult with the client alone, free of potential influencers.

Emma Partis
29 September 2025
accountantsdaily.com.au

Why Culture Matters (Even in Small Teams)

Business culture is the shared set of values, beliefs, norms, and practices that dictate how employees within an organization behave, interact, and make decisions, shaping the overall work environment and company identity.

It's expressed through daily actions, such as how successes are celebrated or mistakes are handled, and it influences everything from employee engagement to the company's success and how people are treated.

Key Characteristics of Business Culture

Shared Values and Beliefs:

These are the foundational principles that guide behaviour and decision-making, providing a sense of common purpose.

Norms and Behaviours:

These are the unwritten rules and established ways of acting that dictate how people interact with each other and perform their work.

Day-to-Day Realities:

Culture is demonstrated through everyday actions and experiences, such as team meetings, communication styles, and how conflicts are resolved.

Leadership Influence:

Leadership plays a crucial role in building and maintaining a strong culture by consistently acting on the company's values and providing direction.

Impact on Employees:

A positive culture fosters employee engagement, commitment, safety, and the belief that their contributions are valued.

Alignment with Strategy:

A strong culture is one where the company's core values and strategic goals are evident in daily practices, leading to better financial performance.

Examples of Business Culture in Action

Direct Communication:

In some cultures, like Australia, communication is direct, with less emphasis on status or unnecessary details.

Decision-Making Processes:

A company might have a top-down decision-making approach where policies and procedures are strictly followed, or a more inclusive process where input from all employees is sought.

Work Environment:

The physical layout and social atmosphere, like the size of offices or the availability of common spaces, can reflect a company's culture.

Handling Mistakes:

How a company responds to errors—whether it focuses on punishment or learning and improvement—reveals its cultural values.

Summary

When culture isn’t clear, people pull in different directions. Mixed messages creep in, good staff get frustrated, and suddenly you’re spending more time fixing problems than making progress.

You don’t need a big HR department to build culture. Start small, stay consistent:
✅ Weekly 10-minute check-ins
✅ Regular team meetings to step back and reflect
✅ Hire for values, not just skills
✅ Call out when people live the values — and when they don’t

Culture is built in everyday moments, not just big decisions.

When culture is clear, people feel supported, problems get solved faster — and you get to build the future you want.

Acctweb

Bribery, brothels, breaches of confidence: ATO officer loses appeal against imprisonment

A former ATO client engagement officer has lost an appeal against a five-year prison sentence for accepting a $100,000 bribe in return for a favourable tax audit.

On 12 March 2024, former ATO client engagement officer Wenfeng Wei was sentenced to five years in prison after breaching the Commonwealth Criminal Code on multiple occasions.

He accepted bribes in return for favourable audits and illegally accessed restricted ATO data on associates’ competitors in what the courts described as a “gross abuse of trust.”

In May 2016, Wei was assigned to audit the taxation affairs of Raymond Schlemon and his company, Global World Group.

That August, Schlemon gave Wei a $100,000 cash bribe. In return, Wei undertook the audit in a way that “significantly favoured Shlemon,” assessing him for outstanding tax liabilities of $136,290, when the audit ought to have identified income tax and GST shortfalls of just over $6 million.

Wei, who also had a gambling addiction, laundered the money through casinos to provide an “ostensible source for the money,” court documents said.

He also accessed restricted ATO data concerning Shlemon in an unauthorised way more than 500 times between April 2017 and February 2022. He communicated with Shlemon before, during and after these ‘episodes’ of unauthorised access.

Wei engaged in similar activities relating to another associate, Chao Chang, who operated a brothel in Sydney’s Surry Hills known as The Ginza Club.

The former ATO officer accessed restricted government data relating to Chang and his business interests over 900 times between August 2017 and March 2020.

Furthermore, at the request of Chang, Wei accessed restricted ATO data on a competitor of Chang’s on 294 occasions. This included personal details, information regarding property transactions, shareholdings and tax returns of the competitor.

The judge described this conduct as “particularly concerning because of the breach of confidence in circumstances where [the competitor] was entitled to expect that a public organisation would protect her from competitors and the gross abuse of trust involved,” court documents read.

“The offending involved a gross violation of [the competitor’s] privacy as well as of the ATO system.”

Wei was sentenced to five years in prison, with a non-parole period of two years and six months. The sentence commenced on 12 March 2024 and is set to expire on 11 March 2029.

The former ATO officer launched an appeal against his sentence, arguing that the sentencing judge had failed to consider his “contrition and remorse,” and his sentence should be reduced as he had pleaded guilty and co-operated with authorities.

Last Wednesday (24 September), the NSW Supreme Court rejected his appeal, finding that Wei’s cooperation had not warranted further reductions in his sentence, given that his early guilty plea had already resulted in a 25 per cent reduction in his sentence.

In fact, the judges said that they likely would have given him a stronger sentence, given the nature of his conduct.

“Were I to resentence, I too would impose a materially higher sentence for the bribery offence, even taking into account the evidence adduced on the usual basis against the possibility that this Court might resentence,” Justice Mark Leeming noted.

“That is because the offending was serious and sustained, and the errors identified by the applicant are relatively minor in terms of their impact on the process of formulating the appropriate sentence.”

Emma Partis
29 September 2025
accountantsdaily.com.au

The biggest earthquakes in history : (1905–2025)

Check out this powerful visual journey through the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded. From massive Chilean earthquakes along the Pacific Ring of Fire to the more recent Russia earthquake in Kamchatka, this timelapse shows how Earth's fury has shaped our world.