The Quinn Group | The Quintessential Brief

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September 2008	Bookkeeping	5 Important Reasons to Keep Good Business Records
	Investing	Before You Invest In Property
	IR Law	The new Government's Industrial Relations Legislation
	Corporate Law	Shareholder Agreements - protecting your investments
	From the Desk	From the Principal, Michael Quinn
	Important Dates	Dates to remember this quarter
	At Quinns...	An admission, a proposal and an excursion!
	Client Spotlight	Southern Cross Masonry Contractors (Aust) Pty Ltd

The New Government's Industrial Relations Legislation

Earlier this year, The Workplace Relations Bill passed through the Australian Parliament. This Bill marks the initial stage of the Labor Government’s reform to the existing Industrial Relations legislation. The Bill will effect changes in most Australian workplaces. Whilst for some this will be a positive turning point, for others it will be seen as a detriment. The main purpose of the new Bill is for it to be used as a transitional form of legislation, until the bigger workplace changes come in to effect at a later date, in 2010.

It will take some time for the changes to be able to be assessed as being a more flexible and productive workplace relations system as opposed to the Work Choices law that it replaces.

This step has already brought about changes which aim to simplify current work awards. Some of the main changes that have been introduced are outlined in general terms below.

Removing AWAs from all workplaces in Australia
The new transitional legislation prevents the creation of any new AWAs in the workplace across Australia. However, the AWAs that are already in existence will continue to operate, thus people who are already employed under an AWA will not be immediately affected by the introduction of the new legislation. The new reformed law on Australian workplace relations is to commence from January 2010.

Implementing new Workplace Agreements (ITEAs)
Until the commencement of the signifi cant workplace changes a new form of agreement will be used as a transitional tool, known as ‘Individual Employment Agreements’. These will be used by employers who have previously used AWAs.

Employers who are eligible to make ITEAs are those who have had at least one person employed in their organisation on an individual agreement before 1 December 2007. If this is the case they may then make ITEA’s with existing employees providing that they have a current AWA, or new staff on the condition that they were not previously employed by the employer.

Replacing the ‘Fairness Test’ with the ‘No Disadvantage Test’
With the introduction of the new legislation, replacement of the previous ‘Fairness Test’ with the new ‘No Disadvantage Test’ also took place at this time. The test is created to protect the employee when making a new agreement, essentially making sure that the employee’s wages and conditions are not reduced. The ‘Fairness Test’ was used as a safety net for employees in that it was designed to ensure that employees received a sufficient compensation for any loss they may encounter by signing on to a workplace agreement. The transitional legislation replaces the ‘Fairness Test’ with the new ‘No Disadvantage Test’. The new test is very similar to that of the old, except that it will cover more conditions including comparing the remuneration and conditions in the award to the remuneration and conditions found in the agreement.

Starts the development of simplifying workplace awards
The main purpose of the new bill is to be a transitional tool to simplify awards. The new awards will not come into effect until 1 January 2010 and will contain 10 conditions of employment and the National Employment Standards. The Standards will replace those currently governed by the Fair Pay and Conditions Standard.

Industrial Relations is currently a very dynamic area and hence it is recommended that you seek professional advice in order to ensure that your compliance requirements and obligations are met.

If you would like further information or advice regarding the Workplace Relations Amendments or any other area of Employment Law you can contact us on 1300 QUINNS or click here to submit an online enquiry.

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