News Feed
FWA Equal Pay Ruling
On 2 June 2011, we reported on the Equal Remuneration Test Case (Equal Remuneration Case; Australian Municipal, Administrative, Clerical and Services Union and others [2011] FWAFB 2700 (16 May 2011)). In that decision, the Full Bench determined that an equal remuneration order should be made because there is not equal remuneration for men and women workers in the social and community services industry, for work of equal or comparable value in comparison with workers in the same industry but in state or local government employment. The Full Bench called for submissions on the extent to which gender has inhibited wage growth in the industry. The percentage increases and implementation period On 1 February 2012, the Full Bench, with Vice President Watson dissenting, determined the following percentage increases to respective classification levels. Level 2 — 19% L...
8 February 2012Road Safety Remuneration Bill Introduced to Parliament
On 23 November 2011 the Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese introduced the Road Safety Remuneration Bill 2011 into parliament. The Bill, if passed, will add another layer of regulation to the already heavily regulated road transport industry. The Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal It will establish a new Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal with the objective of promoting safety and fairness in the industry. The Tribunal will be made up of Fair Work Australia members along with work, health and safety experts and is expected to commence on 1 July 2012. Application of the Bill The Bill will apply to all employed and self-employed (independent contractor) drivers in the road transport industry as defined by reference to the modern awards that apply in the industry. For example the Bill will apply to employed and independent contractor drivers in the road transport and distribution industry as defined in the Road Transport...
2 December 2011Failure to Properly Comply with Pre-Approval Steps put Agreements at Risk of Not Being Approved
The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the Act) contains a number of mandatory pre-approval steps which, if not followed, put an enterprise agreement at risk of not being approved by Fair Work Australia, despite employees voting to approve the agreement. Two recent decisions of the full bench have examined the necessity for compliance with the requirement to notify workers of representation rights. The Notice of Representational Rights Section 173 of the Act requires an employer to take all reasonable steps to give notice of the right to be represented by a bargaining representative to each employee who will be covered by the agreement and is employed at the notification time for the agreement. The notification time is usually the time when the employer agrees to bargain or initiates bargaining for the agreement. The form of the notice of representational rights is contained in Schedule 2.1 to the Regulations to the Act. The notice speci...
28 November 2011