Employment conditions

 

Under Australian law, an employer’s obligations to their employees and to other workers come from a variety of sources: federal, state and territory laws, awards and agreements, tribunal decisions and contracts of employment.
Information about these obligations may be in written or verbal form.

Conditions of employment

Under conditions of employment, Australian full-time workers generally expect to have:
• A maximum of 38 ordinary hours of work per week plus reasonable additional hours;
• 4 weeks of paid annual leave per year (with an additional week for shift workers);
• 10 days paid personal / carer’s leave per year;
• 52 weeks of unpaid parental leave (with some workplaces providing paid parental leave);
• Government funded 18 weeks paid parental leave on the minimum wage for 18 weeks;
• Long Service Leave;
• Community Service leave;
• The right to request flexible working arrangements for those employees with the responsibility of caring for a child;
• Notice of termination and redundancy pay;
• Payment for public holidays at base rates of pay, when they occur on an employee’s normal working day; and
• A Fair Work Information Statement provided to new employees.

 

In Australia, employers have a number of obligations to their employees, including to:
• Cover record-keeping and payslip requirements;
• Pay correct wages, penalties and loadings from the correct Industrial Instrument (modern award or enterprise agreement) or National Minimum Wage Order;
• Reimburse employees for work-related expenses;
• Ensure a safe working environment;
• Provide for injured workers under State-based workers’ compensation laws;
• Comply with anti-discrimination laws under the Fair Work Act 2009 and other Federal and State laws;
• Allow employees to exercise their workplace rights without adverse action taken against them;
• Forward Pay As You Go (PAYG) tax instalments to the Tax Office; and
• Make appropriate payments under the Superannuation Guarantee legislation.

 

In addition, employers have an obligation not to:
• Act in a way that may seriously damage an employee’s reputation or cause mental distress or humiliation;
• Injure an employees’ employment based on discrimination, for example race or ethnicity;
• Apply coercion, undue influence or pressure upon an employee to exercise or not exercise a workplace right;
• Dismiss an employee unfairly or unlawfully;
• Act in a way that damages the trust and confidence necessary for an employment relationship; and
• Provide false or misleading references.

 

Significant legal changes

Over the past decade there have been considerable and significant legal changes made to Australia’s workplace relations system.

From 1 July 2009, a new national workplace relations system came into effect for most employees and employers in Australia. The Fair Work Act 2009 applies to all national system employees and employers (including foreign corporations carrying on business in Australia and their employees in Australia).

Broadly, employment conditions in Australia are determined by the national workplace relations system, and include:
• The National Employment Standards;
• Modern Awards; and
• Enterprise Agreements.

For up-do-date information on the Fair Work Act 2009 and other relevant employment legislation, go to:

Useful websites:

Fairwork - www.fairwork.gov.au
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations - www.deewr.gov.au 

.
.
.
.
.
cc