The new legislation becomes law on Wednesday, 1 July. With these laws comes a revamp of the Australian Industrial Relations Framework. With Australia's political landscape this is not really new - it regularly changes with changes of government!
As already stated, the new laws change the unfair dismissal laws. Other areas that are affected are:
- The expansion of Workchoice's 5 minimum standards of employment to a 10 minimum standards. With the new modern awards, these will form the new Safety Net for employees from 1 January 2010
- A change to the definition of small business
- Increased Union Right of Entry into workplaces for investigation, discussions and OH&S matters
- Significant changes to the manner in which industrial relations is governed with the creation of Fair Work Australia - a one stop adviser, mediator and arbitrator of the new laws.
- The abolition of AWA's (no surprise there!)
- An "emphasis on enterprise level collective bargaining underpinned by simple good faith bargaining obligations"
- The introduction of an additional discrimination jurisdiction under the Fair Work Act.
- Redundancy and Termination changes including the setting of minimum redundancy payments and notice periods
- Maternity and Paternity Leave
With these new laws it becomes more important than ever to ensure your workplace has procedures and policies in place to respond to employee complaints and lay down expectations in the event of a dispute or issue. In addition, you employment agreements may now contain clauses that contradict the new laws. I recommend strongly that you seek some assistance to ensure you are ready!
Should you need any further information on the new laws, contact People Smartz and we will be happy to assist.
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