It's time to take stock of your legals

There’s no doubt that the recruitment industry has kept lawyers busy in 2021! Add Fair Work changes around casual employment, mandatory vaccination challenges and consultants moving to competitors on top of new business models and increased PSA activity - it’s been pretty crazy. Ready Set Recruit Legal's Martin Richardson writes.

As we head into 2022, it’s time to quickly take stock so your ‘legals’ don’t fall behind as demand for your services continues to grow.

If you’re using legal documents that haven’t been checked in the last 12 months, there’s no better place to start. Think TOBs, on-hire engagement contracts, employment contracts and your privacy documentation.

Client Terms

Make sure your Terms Of Business protect you and are clear on how and when you get paid. Don't cut and paste or 'borrow' terms unless you are 100% they are legally effective and protect you. Staffing services are very different to perm. Make sure your TOBs cover you for both. Review client PSAs before signing & get insurer OK to sign.

Contractors/temps

Contractor engagement - are you on-hiring casual employees, independent contractors, or both? Understand your legal obligations as an 'employer' . Have appropriate workplace policies for internal and on-hire workers. Have appropriate engagement contracts that are legally compliant – especially given the new definition of ‘casual employee’ .. Understand your casual conversion obligations under the Fair Work Act. Your team Don't 'borrow' employment contracts or rely on the same template for each employee. Tailor non-compete and non-solicitation clause per role. Don't rely on template clauses.

Understand minimum entitlements for each role and whether an Award applies. Review your processes to ensure your legal documentation is being used correctly.

Ensure you have a compliant Privacy Policy. Check you are obtaining consent where required i.e. collection of sensitive information such as COVID19 vaccination status. Ensure you have appropriate safeguards and security to protect personal information (and consider cybercrime insurance)– outsourcing to a third party provider might not be enough if ultimately your agency is the one attacked.

Privacy

The fact remains that if you're in the recruitment game, you're in the legal game. Whether you like it or not. Therefore, aim to align your legals with your current and future goals so you aren’t distracted, or blindsided, by legal issues that have the ability to cause financial and reputational damage.