Australia's workplace relations laws have helped strengthen the Australian economy.
Since the introduction of WorkChoices, more than 276,000 new jobs have been created, real wages have continued to rise, unemployment has hit a 32-year low while strike action is at its lowest level ever.
The fundamental elements of the Government's workplace reforms will be retained to help secure Australia's future economic prosperity. These include removing Labor's job-destroying unfair dismissal laws for small business, increasing flexibility in the workplace, retaining Australian Workplace Agreements and prohibiting industry-wide pattern bargaining.
The goal of WorkChoices is to allow employees and employers to negotiate flexible workplace arrangements.
It was never the Government's intention that it should become the norm for penalty rates or other protected conditions to be traded off without proper compensation.
The Government understands there is some concern in the community that the removal of penalty rates and other protected conditions without fair compensation might occur, with adverse consequences for final take-home pay.
Therefore the Government is today unveiling a stronger safety net for working Australians with the introduction of a Fairness Test that will guarantee that entitlements such as penalty rates and public holiday pay are not traded off without adequate compensation.
The test will protect workers who would otherwise have been entitled to award conditions and are paid less than $75,000 a year. It will be applied to all agreements lodged on or after 7 May 2007.
If an agreement removes or modifies those award conditions, then the employee will be required to receive fair compensation. These protected award conditions are:
* penalty rates, including for working on public holidays and weekends;
* shift and overtime loadings;
* monetary allowances;
* annual leave loadings;
* public holidays;
* rest breaks; and
* incentive-based payments and bonuses.
Agreements will continue to be lodged with the Office of the Employment Advocate which will be renamed the Workplace Authority.
The Workplace Authority will conduct the Fairness Test by considering both the monetary and non-monetary compensation offered relative to what would have been payable under the relevant award.
In establishing what is fair compensation, like the previous no-disadvantage test, the Workplace Authority will consider the work obligations of the employee, for instance whether the employee would be required to undertake shift work at weekends.
The Authority will also consider, where appropriate, other factors such as the industry, location and economic circumstances of the business and the specific employment circumstances or opportunities of the employee. It will take into account all relevant working arrangements and entitlements, including family friendly conditions.
The Fairness Test will be conducted in a similar fashion to the no-disadvantage test. Like the old no-disadvantage test, the employee will most often be compensated with a higher rate of pay for each hour worked.
Whilst there are some similarities with the old no-disadvantage test, there are also some technical differences. However, in both cases employees receive fair compensation for trading off protected award conditions such as penalty rates and holiday pay.
If an agreement does not pass the fairness test, the relevant industrial instrument will apply until an agreement is formed that passes the test. The Workplace Authority will not be able to arbitrate an agreement.
Employees will be able to access independent advice on their workplace agreements and pre-check agreements before signing.
In addition, a new Workplace Ombudsman will provide additional protection for workers, with enhanced powers to investigate employers who fail to meet their obligations under the workplace laws.
The Ombudsman will replace the Office of Workplace Services.
Attachment - A Stronger Safety Net for Working Australians - RTF 345KB | PDF 62KB