Previous issues:

Our attached HR & IR Update examines two recent decisions dealing with the often complex issues that arise when dealing with ill or injured employees. It also includes an update on the on the increased unfair dismissal remuneration cap, the expiry of the Superannuation Choice of Fund default insurance exemption and the AIRC's model flexibility clause for modern awards.

On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Gillard issued both the final National Employment Standards and a revised award modernisation request. Importantly, the Australian Industrial Relations Commission has been directed to establish an award for non managerial employees who are currently award free, but perform similar work to award covered employees.

An External Reference Group (ERG) commissioned by the Federal Government to investigate Australia’s temporary skilled migration program recently delivered its final report. This Update outlines the recommendations of the ERG on 457 visas as well as the implications these will have on your business.

In last week's Budget, the Government announced a number of changes to fringe benefits tax that are likely to increase the cost to employers of providing certain benefits to employees. In addition, some important changes to superannuation will take effect on 1 July 2008. This Update looks at these changes and also a recent ATO decision that could have a significant impact (in relation to superannuation and taxation) for employees whose old contracts are renewed.

The Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) issued a Statement on 29 April 2008, laying down a proposed timeline for the AIRC’s award modernisation process. The AIRC’s Statement also identifies 19 priority industries, in relation to which it is proposed that the award modernisation process will be completed before Christmas 2008. Employers in the priority industries identified by the AIRC would be well advised to become involved in, or at least informed about, the award modernisation process.

The Senate passed the Workplace Relations Amendment (Transition to Forward with Fairness) Bill (Transition Bill), with some amendments that were proposed by the Government. The amended Transition Bill has also been passed by the House of Representatives, and is awaiting Royal Assent before it comes into effect.

Late last week, the Australian Government released an exposure draft of ten National Employment Standards, that will apply to all employees from 1 January 2010. There are some significant changes, such as a redundancy pay entitlement for all employees (not just award-free employees). The Government is seeking submissions on the proposed Standards by 4 April 2008. We provide details of the proposed Standards, and discuss the next steps, in the attached HR & IR Update.

On 13 February 2008, the Commonwealth Government introduced into Parliament the first plan of its Forward with Fairness reforms to the workplace relations system. In the attached HR & IR Update we discuss the Transitional Bill, and its implications for employers.

The ALP has won the election - although not outright control of the Senate.

The Coalition has announced changes it will make to WorkChoices if it is re-elected – most significantly, including award rationalisation and new employee entitlements. The ALP has released its policy on occupational health and safety and workers compensation.

The Prime Minister announced on 14 October that the election will be held on Saturday 24 November 2007. Workplace relations is shaping up to be one of the major issues in the election campaign. This special election edition of the HR & IR Update examines both the Government and ALP workplace relations policies in depth. Because the Government's workplace relations policy has already been implemented, and no major changes have been flagged, most of this Update focuses on what would happen if the ALP were to win the upcoming election.

On 7 December 2006, Parliament passed the Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF Act). To date, there has been little focus on the 'employer' obligations of organisations who are covered by the AML/CTF – which include financial and gambling sector employers, amongst others. Those obligations have been the 'sleeper' issue of the AML/CTF Act. This Update provides an overview for employers covered by the Act.

Yesterday, the Federal Court dismissed an appeal against a decision to award an employee over $500,000 for psychological injury, resulting from a breach of his employment contract. The decision continues the resurgence of breach of contract claims in employment law and the trend towards finding policies to be contractually enforceable.

The Australian Government has released regulations providing how an employer may provide a copy of the Workplace Relations Fact Sheet to its employees. The Fact Sheet can be handed or posted to employees, and in some cases it can be emailed or faxed to employees.

The Australia Fair Pay Commission released its 2007 Minimum Wage Decision today.  The decision grants a two-tiered pay increase to minimum rates of pay for most Australian employees, of either $10.26 per week or $5.30 per week. However various exemptions apply, including a 12 month deferral for drought-affected farms. And, for some employers, rates of pay determined by State tribunals still apply.

The Australian Government has today published the workplace relations Fact Sheet, which employers must provide to all new employees employed on or after 20 July 2007 within seven days of their commencing employment, and to all existing employees before 20 October 2007. The Fairness Test, to apply to workplace agreements lodged since 7 May 2007, has also commenced operation. This HR & IR Update discusses these new amendments to the Workplace Relations Act.

With the bulk of the new Victorian Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2007 now in force, employers with operations in Victoria should review their operational and risk management practices and procedures to assess whether they comply with requirements contained in the new Regulations. Employers should also be aware of a number of changes to the law relating to the taxation of termination payments which came into effect on 1 July 2007.

The Federal Government’s legislation amending the Workplace Relations Act to introduce a ‘fairness test’ for workplace agreements lodged since 7 May 2007 is likely to come into force next week. Some important amendments have been made to the Bill, especially the amendments requiring most Australian employers to distribute a new fact sheet to all their employees.

On 28 May 2007 the Government introduced amending legislation into Federal Parliament, to give effect to its recently announced ‘fairness test’ for workplace agreements and to make other changes to the Workplace Relations Act. This HR & IR Update reviews the detail of the proposed 'fairness test' and some of the other amendments proposed by the Bill.  We also provide a detailed analysis of the ALP's industrial relations policy.

A 'Fairness Test' for workplace agreements is part of the Federal Government's planned amendments to the Workplace Relations Act announced last week. This HR & IR Update outlines the current details and the timeline for further amendments and the passing of legislation.

Employers are becoming increasingly conscious of the possibility of a change of Federal Government at the next election and – if Senate control changes as well – the inevitability of the Work Choices legislation being substantially re-written, if not abolished. This HR & IR Update takes an in-depth look at the ALP industrial policy and also examines the Federal Government's proposed changes to AWAs (and presumably other forms of agreement).

Tomorrow is the first birthday of the Federal Government's WorkChoices legislation. A year ago tomorrow, the amendments made by the Workplace Relations (Work Choices) Amendment Act 2005 commenced operation. This HR & IR Update covers what has happened in the past year, what the emerging trends have been and what the next year holds.

In the last set of WorkChoices amendments for 2006, the Federal Government has made a range of amendments to the regulations – including simplification of the requirements for employee record-keeping and payslips. This Update summarises the latest amendments, as well as looking at what lies ahead for 2007.

This edition of HR & IR Update summarises the Federal Government amendments to the Independent Contractors Bill 2006 and some important New South Wales legislative developments.

This week the Federal Government introduced amendments to the WorkChoices legislation. While most of these amendments follow the Government's announcement a few weeks ago, there are some unannounced retrospective amendments which could raise issues for some employers. We will be sending a further HR & IR Update about amendments to the Independent Contractor Bill and new New South Wales legislation on Monday.

On 26 October 2006, the Australian Fair Pay Commission (AFPC) handed down its first decision in the Spring Wage Review. The AFPC decided to increase rates of pay in preserved Australian Pay and Classification Scales. These increases take effect on and from this Friday, 1 December.

The High Court handed down its long awaited decision in the challenge by the State Governments and the union movement to the Federal Government's WorkChoices legislation – the Workplace Relations Amendment (WorkChoices) Act 2005 this morning. By majority, the High Court upheld the WorkChoices Act and rejected the challenge in its entirety.

The Federal Government has today announced several amendments to the Workplace Relations Act and the Workplace Relations Regulations, including a further relaxation of the time keeping requirements.

This article examines a recent decision of the NSW Industrial Court, which has major implications for directors' liability for occupational health and safety breaches.

On 3 November, the Federal Government announced the approach that will be taken to award rationalisation under the amended Workplace Relations Act. Contrary to initial expectations, it is now likely that the award rationalisation will be much less dramatic than first thought.

The Australian Fair Pay Commission (AFPC) today handed down its decision in its 'Spring 2006 Wage Review' . In a surprise decision, the AFPC awarded a two tier increase of $27.36 per week for minimum wage rates up to $700 and $22.04 for minimum wage rates $700 and above.  This is close to the ACTU's original claim and is significantly higher than the increases awarded by the State industrial tribunals in their state wage cases.

Yesterday, the Federal Government passed further amendments to the Workplace Relations Regulations. Under the amendments, employers can breath a sigh of relief - no penalties will be imposed in relation to time and wages record-keeping obligations for another six months. The amendments also include new protections for employees accessing personal/carer's leave, and clarify (to some extent) the arrangements for the cashing out of leave accrued before WorkChoices. For further detail, please see the attached HR&IR Update.

In the last week, the Federal Court has handed down two major decisions on breach of employment contract. These decisions have wide ranging ramifications for employers - both in the drafting of contracts and policies and in the dismissal (and other treatment) of employees.

Under the WR Act, an employee is now unable to bring an unfair dismissal application in relation to a dismissal for ‘genuine operational reasons’.  The Australian Industrial Relations Commission has just handed down one of the first decisions on the meaning of these words in Perry v Savills (Vic) Pty Ltd.

The Federal Government is requiring many contractors to comply with the Building Industry Code and associated guidelines – which contain broad ranging workplace relations requirements.

The Federal Government introduced into Parliament its long awaited Independent Contractors Bill 2006(‘Main Bill’) – together with consequential amendments in the Workplace Relations Legislation Amendment (Independent Contractors) Bill 2006 (‘Consequential Bill’) yesterday.

There have been a number of recent developments affecting superannuation as a result of the Federal Government’s Workplace Relations Amendment (Work Choices) Act 2005 (Cth) (Work Choices). This special superannuation edition of the HR&IR Update considers the implications for employers of the most significant developments.

The Commonwealth Government has amended the Workplace Relations Regulations 2006, with the most significant amendments being changes to record-keeping obligations for employers, removing the onerous time-recording requirements in respect of some more highly paid employees. Other amendments made by the Regulations include changes concerning severance pay, right of entry for occupational health and safety and personal/carer's leave.

Since Work Choices came into effect, there have been a range of legislative developments particularly at State level.  The Federal Government has now also announced details of the proposed Independent Contractor legislation which it says will be introduced into Parliament later this month or next month.

The Federal Government has released the long awaited Workplace Relations Regulations. The Regulations are the missing piece of the WorkChoices puzzle and deal with issues such as 'prohibited content' in a workplace agreement, how to assess whether a workplace agreement or contract of employment is 'more favourable' than the Fair Pay and Conditions Standard, and what happens to proceedings 'on foot', existing instruments and arrangements under State and Federal laws.

On 9 March, the New South Wales Government passed two new Acts - the Industrial Relations Amendment Act 2006 and the Public Sector Employment Legislation Amendment Act 2006. These Acts are the New South Wales Government's legislative response to the Federal Government's Work Choices Act 2005 due to commence some time this month.

View the PDF version of the March 2006 edition of this newsletter.

In this HR & IR Update, we outline recent changes to long service leave (LSL) entitlements in both Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory.