Page 4 - Fair Work Amendment News Today

It involves a number of “reforms” that clearly increase profits for business and attack conditions and pay for workers, particularly those in casual and insecure work — the very workers hit hardest by the COVID-19 lockdowns and those most likely to have been essential workers during that time. The first bill was carried easily, with the full support of the Australian Labor Party. The second will face greater challenges as it was not even discussed with the Australian Council of Trade Unio...

Seafood Processing Award 2020; and Vehicle Repair, Services and Retail Award 2020. This may incentivise employers covered by these modern awards to prefer permanent part-time employees rather than relying on casual employees. The proposed provisions apply to part-time employees who work at least 16 hours but less than 38 hours a week and whose shifts are for at least three hours (which may include an additional hour). The Government recognises that organisations covered by these modern awards h...

Source: Unsplash/Marcin Jozwiak. Over the last six months, the federal government has been openly critical of the decisions of the Federal Court of Australia in WorkPac Pty Ltd v Rossato [2020] FCAFC 84 and WorkPac Pty Ltd v Skene [2018] FCAFC 131. It has also recently supported a successful application for special leave to appeal the Rossato decision in the High Court of Australia, which is likely to be heard sometime next year.  In the meantime, Attorney-General Christian Porter has intro...

On 9 December 2020, the Federal Government introduced the Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australias Jobs and Economic Recovery) Bill 2020 ( the Bill) to Parliament which will seek to implement reform to several major elements of Australias industrial relations laws. This article provides a high-level overview of some of the key points of the Bill. New arrangements for casual workers Casual employment defined The Bill introduces a definition of casual employment into the Fair Work Act for the f...

Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus described the Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Bill 2020 as “dangerous and extreme”. She compared it to former-prime minister John Howard’s attacks on unions and workplace rights under the WorkChoices legislation. “WorkChoices allowed employers to cut wages, and this proposal will do that as well”, McManus said on December 8. “When WorkChoices was introduced [in 2006] employers rushed...

Friday, December 11, 2020 The Morrison Governments first major workplace reform Bill was introduced into Federal Parliament on 9 December 2020.  The Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australias Jobs and Economic Recovery) Bill 2020 (the Omnibus Bill) does not represent an overhaul of workplace laws, but applies touch paint to key aspects of the former Labor Governments Fair Work system that have created controversy, uncertainty and calls for change. It also aligns with the Governments ...

whether the person will be entitled to a casual loading or a specific rate of pay for casual employees under the terms of the offer or a fair work instrument.  Employers will also be obliged to provide casual employees with a Casual Employee Information Statement, as prepared by the Fair Work Ombudsman. Whos affected? These provisions may apply to all employers and employees engaged as casuals.  The new definition applies in relation to offers of employment that were given before, on o...

The new definition of the “casual employee”: The details, the flaws and the likely outcome Trent Hancock On December 9, 2020, the federal government introduced the long-awaited Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Bill 2020 into the House of Representatives.  The bill was introduced after what Minister for Industrial Relations Christian Porter described as “extensive consultation with employer and employee groups”, who spent more th...

Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Bill 2020 into the House of Representatives.  The bill was introduced after what Minister for Industrial Relations Christian Porter described as “extensive consultation with employer and employee groups”, who spent more than 150 hours deliberating five key areas of industrial relations. One of those key areas, and perhaps the most controversial, was the uncertainty about casual employment and how a casual worker was ...