Fair Work Australia 2010:
Broader Obligations for Employers
Australia's workplace relations system is changing. Work Choices and the Workplace Relations Act 1996 will be replaced by the Fair Work Act 2009 and takes effect on 1 July 2009.
The Main Features of the Fair Work Act are:
- A fair and comprehensive safety net of minimum employment conditions
- A system with bargaining in good faith at the enterprise level
- Protections from unfair dismissal for all employees
- Protection for the low-paid
- A balance between work and family life, and
- The right to be represented in the workplace
The new workplace relations system ensures all employees have set minimum protections that cannot be removed.
The safety net comprises of two parts:
1. New National Employment Standards (NES) which sets minimum conditions for all national system employees from 1 January 2010.
2. Modern Awards which replace current awards. The new Modern Awards will be industry or occupation based and will streamline and simplify the thousands of existing awards.
Read the Bayside Group's latest Fair Work Australia Report outlining implications for employers. For a more comprehensive version of this report, please contact us.
Further information on the Fair Work Act can be found on the Australia Government website or to view a list of the new Modern Awards.
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