THE GOVERNMENT'S TRANSITIONAL WORKPLACE RELATIONS LEGISLATION 

The Workplace Relations Amendment (Transition to Forward with Fairness) Act 2008 (“Transitional Act”) was passed by both houses of Parliament on 19 March 2008 and came into operation on 27 March 2008, coinciding with the 2 year anniversary of the introduction of Work Choices.

The Transitional Act substantially follows what was proposed in the Labor Party's policy documents leading up to the Federal election (as outlined in our Summer 2007 Work InSights publication) and is the Government’s first step towards “undoing” some of the effects of the Work Choices legislation.

The Transitional Act amends the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cth) in the following broad areas:
• Australian Workplace Agreements (AWA's) - cessation of their availability to employers after 27 March 2008;
• Individual Transitional Employment Agreements (ITEA's) - establishment of the framework for these interim individual agreements;
• collective workplace agreements;
• changes to the time that some of these agreements become operative;
• replacement of the "Fairness Test" with a global no-disadvantage test;
• removal of the ability to unilaterally terminate collective agreements; and
• award modernisation - establishment of the framework and rules within which this will occur. 

More detail in relation to the changes and their implications for your business can be found in our Autumn 2008 Work InSights publication.

On 16 June 2008 the Government also released the final version of the "National Employment Standards" (“NES”) which will act as a basis for minimum conditions of employment. The NES will apply to all employees in the Federal system and cover maximum weekly hours, requests for flexible working arrangements, parental leave and related entitlements, annual leave, personal/carer's leave, compassionate leave, community service leave, long service leave, public holidays, notice of termination, redundancy pay, and the provision of a "Fair Work Information Statement". 

The NES are contained in a 50 page booklet which can be accessed at the Federal Government's Workplace Information Website. 

Whilst the NES will not come into operation until 1 January 2010 (along with the Government’s substantive changes to the Workplace Relations Act), they will play an important part in the award modernisation process currently being undertaken by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (“AIRC”). 

The AIRC has also recently released a decision on the award modernisation process. The decision, handed down on 20 June 2008, sets out the priority industries and occupations that the AIRC will address in the award modernisation process, includes the model award flexibility clause and provides a timetable for the completion of the award modernisation process. The full text of the decision, including the list of priority industries can be found here. 


FURTHER INFORMATION:

We are currently analysing the strategic implications of the NES, and we will be providing additional information shortly.

Links

The Hon Julia Gillard MP, Minister for Education. Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Minister for Social Inclusion. Deputy Prime Minister 14 February, 2008 Speech: Second Reading Speech - Workplace Relations Amendment (Transition To Forward With Fairness) Bill 2008

Workplace Authority website: This site provides information from the Federal Government about the changes, as well as links to media releases and further information about specific aspects of the new law. After this, the Act can be found on Commlaw and on AustLII


Transitional Act: Workplace Relations Amendment (Transition to Forward with Fairness) Act.