From "WorkChoices" to "Forward with Fairness"

There has been a great deal of talk about the scrapping of WorkChoices and the introduction of “Forward with Fairness”.

To simplify the plethora of information on this topic, we have summarised the key changes for you.

The Workplace Relations Amendment (Transition to Forward with Fairness) Act 2008 became Law on 28th March 2008.

So what did it do? This new act:

Abolished AWAs and the introducted ITEAs
Set out Award Modernisation– how awards will be rationalised
Eliminated the “Fact Sheet” requirement

Further legislation that has been proposed includes changes to:

Dismissal and redundancies laws
Leave entitlements

These items are being planned to be introduced in January 2010.

ITEAs

ITEAs (Individual Transitional Employment Agreements), (which are effectively AWAs under a different guise), are available to use if the following conditions are met:

You have at least 1 employee on an AWA prior to 1 Dec 2007

New employee is engaged under the ITEA within 14 days of commencing employment

Individual agreements were not a new phenomenon of WorkChoices. The option of an individual agreement existed before and will still exist in the future, as future Awards will enable some individual flexibility as long as the No Disadvantage Test is passed.

ITEAs need to be lodged with the Workplace Authority and will be operational until 31 Dec 2009.

Award Modernisation

The good news here is that archaic Awards are getting a rewrite and the number of them will be slimmed down, which should make it easier to work out which Awards apply to specific roles. The new modernised awards will only deal with:

Minimum Wages
The type of work performed
When work is performed including hours of work, meal breaks etc.
Overtime rates
Penalty rates
Annualised salary arrangements
Allowances
Leave
Superannuation
Dispute settling procedures

State Awards will become obsolete over time.

Return of unfair dismissal laws

New unfair dismissal rules are to take effect including some big changes. Employees will be able to make an application for unfair dismissal where:

Employer has over 15 employees and the applicant has been employed for over 6 months

The applicant has been employed for over 12 months (even if they are the only employee)

It is lodged within 7 days

A new “dismissal code” is being drawn up to help articulate what constitutes unfair dismissal.

In the future, applications will be determined by Fair Work Australia.

Everyone to get severance pay on redundancy

Severance pay will be payable to all employees as an integral part of the new National Employment Standards.

Parents to have more leave at birth of a child & more leave choices after birth

Maternity leave (unpaid) is being extended to 24 months and paternity leave to 12 months for the primary care giver. Parents will be able to request flexible leave arrangements and if refused, the burden will rest with the employer to explain fully the reasons why they are not granted.

Don’t ignore Leave Loading!

The National Employment Standards will highlight the obligation to pay Leave Loading to many employees, who may currently not be receiving this entitlement (rightly or wrongly).

So, what do you need to be thinking about?

As a result of these changes you may need to consider:

Increased future employer obligations

Timing of planned terminations & redundancies

External assistance to ensure compliance

If you need help navigating you way around these changes or any other industrial relations issues, please contact us today email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 9862 5900

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