The Federal Government last month passed the Fair Work Amendment Bill (Cth) 2014, which brought into effect several significant changes to the state of employment law in Australia.
If you own a business and employee staff members then it is important that you aware of these new amendments to the Act and if they apply to your business.
The most significant of the changes include:
Request to Extend Unpaid Parental Leave:
As an employer, you are now required to provide your employees with a reasonable opportunity to discuss a request to extend their parental leave if they wish, prior to refusing to grant such a request from them.
Greenfields Enterprise Agreements:
When it comes to greenfields enterprise agreements, employee organisations, such as unions, can now only be bargaining representatives with the employer if the employer agrees to bargain with them. This change means that an employer can now refuse to bargain with a particular union.
If after six months of negotiations no agreement has been reached between the employer and the union, the employer can now apply to the Fair Work Commission for approval of the agreement, which allows for an employer to avoid being caught up in protracted negotiations with the union.
Protected Industrial Action:
Employees can no longer take protected industrial action against their employer until after bargaining for a new enterprise agreement has commenced with their employer. This changes has been implanted to prevent employees taking industrial action to pressure their employer to agree to the bargain.