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Federal Court Upholds Site Rates for Labour Hire Workers and more
A protracted matter concerning the validity of enterprise agreement clauses regarding site rates for labour hire workers, right of entry for dispute resolution and the promotion of union membership have been recently upheld by a Full Court decision of the Federal Court. The following article outlines the main findings of that decision. Background On 28 April 2011, Fair Work Australia (FWA) approved the ADJ Contracting Pty Ltd Enterprise Agreement 2010-2014 (the Agreement). Although not being a party to the Agreement, the Australian Industry Group (AiG) and the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner (ABCC) intervened and objected to the Agreement’s approval on the basis that it contained a: site rates provision requiring ADJ to, amongst other things, engage labour hire workers on the same rates of pay that ADJ’s own employees were entitled to under the Agree...
31 August 2012Summary of Fair Work Act Review
In December 2011, the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations - Bill Shorten announced the appointment of a three member panel (the Panel) to review the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the Act). The Panel members included Dr John Edwards (Reserve Bank Board Member), the Honourable Michael Moore (former Federal Court Judge), and Professor Emeritus Ron McCallum (workplace relations and legal academic). The purpose of the Panel was to review the Act and make recommendations regarding areas in which it may be improved. Over recent months the Panel has received, considered and evaluated submissions received by it culminating in the release of a report providing 53 recommendations. The following article provides a snapshot of the Panel’s major recommendations and their implications for employers should the recommendations be adopted into amendments to the Act. Although no amendments have been made to the Act at this stage, this article provides an insight into how t...
14 August 2012Court Echos the Importance of Careful Drafting...
A recent decision of the Federal Magistrates Court reinforces the potential consequences of failing to ensure clear and careful drafting in workplace documents such as enterprise agreements, remuneration programs and other similar documents. Background In February 1999, Visy Paper Pty Ltd (Visy) implemented a 60 week rostering system commenced at its Smithfield site in NSW (the Agreement). The employees were paid an annualised hourly rate which included paid shift and overtime penalties and annual leave loading. These components were converted into an hourly amount per week, and added to the ordinary weekly hours of work (a total of 52.95 hours per week). Employees were paid the 52.95 hours per week regardless of what hours the employee was rostered to work that week. Under the Agreement, to deter employees taking annual leave on weekends, employees who took annual leave days during a weekend shift forfeited two days annual leave instead of one. The double d...
1 August 2012