Federal Review Of Australian Workplace Laws

Although industrial relations did not heavily feature in the Coalition's election campaign, now that the dust has settled on its re-election the Government has announced a Review of industrial relations laws. The areas to be targeted include:

Casual employment

Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter has confirmed that he does not believe casual employment in itself to be problematic. However, he has acknowledged the popular view that the definition of casual employment requires clarity. The issue has been a hot topic in Australia for some time, particularly following a 2018 Federal Court decision which reviewed the definition of "casual employment" and the offset between casual loadings and permanent employee entitlements and the subsequent introduction of the Fair Work Amendment (Casual Loading Offset) Regulations 2018, to prevent casual employees' "double dipping" entitlements (that is, to be paid casual loadings, but upon being correctly reclassified as a permanent employee, then also being paid permanent employee entitlements such as annual leave). The Minister has made it clear he will first be seeking submissions in this area to understand what, if any, problems really exist before launching any reform.

Unfair Dismissals

The unfair dismissals jurisdiction will be included in the Review amid concerns for the amount of time and money lost to businesses dealing with these claims - of which 15,000 were brought last year. Criticism has been levelled at the number of unfounded claims being made and the complexity of the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code - applying to those employers with less than 15 employees.

Enterprise Agreement Approvals

Concern has been raised over the delays caused by holdups in the current approval process in enterprise bargaining. The Review will examine the enterprise bargaining...