BUSINESS NEWS
New industrial relations laws to encourage more flexible working arrangements By Gabrielle Stannus The Federal Government has developed an industrial relations reform package it claims will give businesses the confidence to get back to growing and creating jobs, as well as the tools to help employers and employees to work together in a post-COVID Australia. We take a quick look at how these reforms may affect employers and employees in the greenlife industry. In December, Attorney General Christian Porter announced the Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia's Jobs and Economic Recovery) Bill 2020 (“The Bill”), addressing five key areas of industrial relations reform around award simplification, casuals and fixed term employees, compliance and enforcement, enterprise agreements and greenfield agreements. The Bill also includes an additional schedule outlining new measures designed to support the Fair Work Commission in its work.
offer them conversion to full-time or part-time employment. Casual employees cannot be compelled to convert at any time.
Flexible work directions
Compliance and enforcement
JobKeeper flexibilities in the Fair Work Act 2009 will expire this March. However, the Bill will allow some employers to continue to direct employees to perform different duties that are consistent with their skill or competence, or work at locations different from their normal place of work. These new ‘flexible work directions’ will be available for a period of two years where employees are covered by specific awards, including the Nursery Award 2020 and the General Retail Industry Award 2020.
A new criminal penalty will apply to those employers convicted of deliberately underpaying their employees. The worst abuses will be punishable by up to 4 years imprisonment and significant fines, with convicted individuals being disqualified from managing corporations for five years under the Corporations Act.
Employers who paid an employee an identifiable loading as compensation for leave entitlements is not then forced to also pay for leave entitlements without the capacity to offset that liability via the compensation already paid (“double-dipping”). Employees who received no casual loading remain entitled to back-pay.
Flexible part-time arrangements The Bill will allow an employee to agree to work additional hours at their normal rates of pay when it suits them, without attracting penalty rates. To be eligible, an employee must work at least 16 hours per week and be given additional hours of no fewer than 3 hours in a shift. The employee must still be paid applicable penalty rates for work conducted outside their usual spread of hours or in excess of daily or weekly maximums contained in their award.
Casual employment The Bill includes a new statutory definition of casual employment, missing from the Fair Work Act 2009. A person will be considered a casual employee if they accept an offer of employment where there is no firm advance commitment to continuing and indefinite work according to an agreed pattern of work. Employers will be required to assess all casual employees after 12 months’ employment and, if appropriate, u
GROUNDSWELL APRIL 2021
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