AHA|SA MEMBER INFORMATION
Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Act 2021 – The Impact on Casual Employment OWEN WEBB AHA|SA WORKPLACE RELATIONS MANAGER On 26 March 2021, the Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Act 2021 (‘the Fair Work Amendment Act’) was assented to. The Fair Work Amendment Act amends the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (‘Fair Work Act’) to give effect to the changes passed through Parliament from the Government’s Industrial Relations Omnibus Bill. The Federal Government’s Omnibus Bill was, in the end, significantly amended from what was first introduced into the Parliament. The Bill originally contained 7 Schedules, however after a lack of support from Labor and the Senate cross -benchers, Schedules 2 to 6 were removed, those schedules proposed changes in the areas of Modern awards, Enterprise 28 | Hotel SA | W W W . A H A S A . A S N . A U
agreements, Greenfields Agreements, Compliance and enforcement and the Fair Work Commission. Importantly however an amended version of Schedule 1 – Casual employees and Schedule 7 – Application, saving and transitional provisions were passed. The passing of these Schedules provides for a number of important changes with respect to casual employment. Changes include the introduction of a definition of a casual employee being inserted into the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (‘Fair Work Act’) and the introduction of casual loading offset provisions to prevent the potential of “double dipping” where incorrectly classified employees try to claim access to certain leave provisions despite having been paid a loading. This is extremely positive news for the hotel industry as it provides a greater level of certainty and confidence for employers with Back to Contents
