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The impact of the Moving Forward with fairness workplace laws are already being felt through the industrial and business sectors of society. Workers and employers are taking note of how the new legislation affects their productivity and professional life.

Revamping HR policies and procedures manuals will help to stave off the worst effects that might concern either employee or employer and understanding the changes should lessen the impact.

In November 2008 the Fair Work Australia Bill was introduced. In March the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations announced the Workplace Relations Amendment (Transition to Forward with Fairness) Act 2008 and the impact of the Act is still being understood.

The changes to the work place agreement laws have impacted HR policies and procedures manuals through all levels of business by altering the way in which employees and employers create their working agreements. Gone are the Liberal Government’s extreme and unpopular (with the workers) Work Choice laws.

The new Act demonstrated the Rudd Government’s commitments in the Forward with Fairness and the Forward with Fairness Implementation Plan. The key areas of impact for HR Manuals are concerned with workplace agreements between employees and employers.

The initial impact is that there are no longer any AWAs. The Australian Workplace Agreements no longer exist. Those using AWAs as at Dec 2007 were offered the ITEA, the Individual Transitional Employment Agreements until modernisation of existing Manuals could be implemented.

The new Act introduces the ‘no disadvantage test’ for new collective agreements and ITEAs and enables the AIRC (the Australian Industrial Relations Commission) to oversee the process of award updating. The Act also impacted on the areas of requirement of the organization or business owners to provide Workplace Relations Fact Sheets to their employees.

After ninety days of an existing AWA expiring, the employer or employee would be entitled to apply for a collective agreement or award in the workplace. The employee or employer could retain agreements or extend or vary agreements in limited circumstances if the certified agreements were in place prior to Work Choices and these agreements could emain until the new laws come into place in 2010.

The impact of the Moving Forward with Fairness act should be limited and positive. The Government’s new workplace relations system appears to be and was designed to be fair, flexible and productive.

The Bill to dismantle the Workchoices legislation is a weighty 575 page document listing significant changes that have been proposed to take effect from January 2010. This includes abolition of AWAs and introduction of individual common law contracts with a no overall disadvantage test to ensure their fairness.

Within the legislation another item that will impact on HR policies and procedures manuals is the introduction of a minimum safety net of provisions for all employees earning under $100,000 including flexible work provisions for employees with children under school age. The safety net no longer applies to employees earning over $100,000, they will now fall outside of the award system which also means no protection against unfair dismissal.

The impact of an overhaul of the general unfair dismissal provisions means that small businesses must include a Fair Dismissal Code in their processes from 1 July 2009.

Comments appeared in newspapers and internet revealing how employees view the new legislation.

The idea of Gillard saying businesses need not fear the outbreak of pattern bargaining seems to alarm some journalists. The idea that the impact of the legislation would be returning the workplace to the way things were with the unions during the Whitlam era might be outspoken but does reflect on how people viewed the new laws.

The fear is that the impact of the new laws will restore collective bargaining and replace the individual arrangements between the worker and the employer, which could increase the rights of unions to enter worksites. Together with their ability to access employees’ records, this could possibly raise the likelihood of pattern bargaining or comparative wage justice.

The impact on HR policies and procedures manuals is yet to be finalised and won’t be until the draft legislation is finally passed through parliament and then in 2010 when it finally comes into effect.  We will be monitoring changes and keep you posted!

Until next time

Ingrid Cliff

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Heart Harmony – Freelance HR writer