March

From today 2nd March, it has become an offence to drive while over a specified limit of drug use. This is similar to the drink driving laws and means police no longer need to show an impairment to driving due to drugs, simply that the driver is over the limit.

Employers should ensure that any drivers who use a vehicle for work purposes are aware of this change to the law, and understand its implications. The offence carries a mandatory disqualification from driving and a maximum of six months' imprisonment. Such a controversial issue needs to be handled sensitively and many employers find it difficult to know what they can or should do when faced with an employee with a substance misuse problem.

Organisations are most vulnerable to employee fraudsters at the recruitment stage, according to a report from the UK's Fraud Prevention Service, CIFAS. It said that deceitful attempts to gain access to sensitive data via the recruitment process accounted for more than 50% of all subsequent internal fraud cases in 2013.

Overall employee fraud rose by 18% in 2013 compared to 2012, but this is the first time since the founding of the Internal Fraud Database in 2006 that dishonest attempts to gain employment accounted for the majority of insider fraud cases. Figures show that the most common reason for application fraud (40%) was because potential employees had concealed unspent criminal convictions.

The number of fake job applications that are discovered at the hiring stage had increased by 70% increase in 2013. Despite this, Mike Emmott, CIPD employment relations adviser, said it was even more important for employers to invest in comprehensive pre-employment checks now that competition for jobs had increased. However, the report noted that it isn't always possible to detect a potential fraudster at the recruitment stage, because the average length of service an individual spent with a company before committing fraud was six and a half years. 

The international criminal history of nurses, midwives and allied health professionals will go under the microscope for the first time. The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) has launched new safeguards to examine the international criminal records of some health practitioners.

Under the new process, an AHPRA-approved supplier will verify the criminal history of certain practitioners. Previously, health professionals were asked to declare their international criminal history but there was no external verification process. Under the National Law, the 14 National Boards are required to review the criminal history of applicants who apply for registration as health practitioners in Australia. AHPRA CEO Martin Fletcher said the new process aims to strike a balance between public safety and regulatory burden for practitioners.