Whose equipment and expenses?

When considering whether an allied health worker is an employee or a contractor, one factor to consider is in respect of the provision of tools, equipment and other assets required to undertake the work.

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Controlling the contractor

The measure of control exercised by one party over the other is an important factor in determining the nature of the relationship between a purported contractor and principal, or employee and employer.

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Medical and allied health practices – are you covered for Workers Compensation?

Workers in the allied health industry, such as nurses, doctors and other professionals may find themselves exposed to many different risks and hazards on a day-to-day basis, including lifting and moving patients and equipment; work-related stress; slips, trips and falls; exposure to infectious diseases and occupational violence.

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Medical and allied health practices – your tax obligations

The tax obligations on a practice in relation to an employment relationship are often perceived as being significantly more costly (and restrictive) compared to simply engaging a practitioner as an independent contractor. However tread carefully when making this decision, as getting your characterisation of a worker wrong can be even more costly and you may find yourself on the wrong side of the law.

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Ownership of medical records – yours, mine or ours?

Upon the termination of a relationship between the practice and practitioner, who will retain the patient records? Where will they be stored? Is the practitioner permitted to access the records, or make a copy?

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Goodwill hunting – contractor entitlement to goodwill

Goodwill is the essence of any business, and can often be a business’ most valuable (albeit intangible) asset. The value of goodwill lies in brand identity or recognition, customer networks, positive customer and employee relations, and broadly speaking, reputation.

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Superannuation for contractors – come one, come all

Determining whether an individual is an employee or contractor can leave you scratching your head. There is unfortunately little clarification in the context of superannuation entitlements and determining whether payments to a contractor are covered by the superannuation guarantee (SGC) regime further blurs the line between contractor and employee.

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Buying cloud software – the end-to-end issue

Most new software for organisations these days is a ‘cloud service’.  While previously you bought a CD ROM that you popped in your computer and ran the program on that local computer, cloud software means that the program is running on a server somewhere else in the world and delivered to you via the Internet. 

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Best practice procurement - getting specifications right

At any stage of the procurement lifecycle – from tender writing to final negotiations – accurately and completely describing what you are buying is critical…and rarely straightforward.  Here are some of our thoughts on getting this right.

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Best practice procurement: Managing probity risks

A “lack of probity” is often raised in a procurement context as part of a complaint that there is an element of perceived unfairness.  It is an easy allegation to make, and one that is often made easier when organisations do not take the time to understand probity and embed it into their procurement practices. 

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