Fair Work Act Review Underway –
Employer Submissions Due By 17 February 2012
Monday, 23 January 2012
The Fair Work Act Review Panel which comprises Professor Emeritus Ron McCallum AO (Consultant to HWL Ebsworth), Dr John Edwards and the Honourable Michael Moore appointed by the Commonwealth Government to conduct a post implementation review of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the Act), last week released its background paper and called on employers and employer groups to provide submissions.
The task of the Review Panel will be an evidence based assessment of the operation of the Act and the extent to which its effects have been consistent with the Act's objective. The objective of the Act is to provide a balanced framework for cooperative and productive workplace relations that promotes national economic prosperity and social inclusion for all Australians.
The Review Panel will be responsible for examining the extent to which the Act is operating as intended, by reviewing the following key areas:
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A clear and stable framework of rights and obligations which are simple and straightforward to understand;
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Enterprise-level collective bargaining underpinned by simple good faith bargaining obligations;
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Fairness and representation at work;
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Effective procedures to resolve grievances and disputes;
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Unfair dismissal protection;
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The new institutional framework (i.e. Fair Work Australia) and a accessible compliance regime (i.e. Fair Work Ombudsman); and
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Any differential aspects across regions, industries, occupations and groups of workers including (but not limited to) women, young workers and people from non-English speaking backgrounds.
The Commonwealth Government has requested that the Review Panel provide a report on areas where the evidence indicates that the operation of the Act could be improved.
Importantly, the Review Panel will not be considering the content of modern awards as modern awards will be addressed during Fair Work Australia's 2012 review of all modern awards.
Employers and employer groups are invited to provide submissions to the Review Panel by 17 February 2012. Submissions should be concise and it is paramount that contentions and propositions in the submissions are supported by evidence. The Review Panel has warned that a bare statement of a conclusion will be of little assistance to them. If a submission wishes to argue that the Act is not operating as intended or is not achieving its objectives, that argument should be supported by evidence which demonstrates in an unequivocal way why this is so. Submissions may include evidence of a case study of a business relevant to a particular sector or specific industry. To assist businesses wishing to make submissions to the Review Panel, the Review Panel has compiled 69 questions which employers may wish to answer in their submissions.
Unless employers and/or employer groups request that their submissions remain confidential, all submissions provided to the Review Panel will be posted in their entirety on the Review Panel's website shortly after lodgement.
Participants will also have until 2 March 2012 to provide any supplementary submissions they may wish to make, including comments on the submissions received by the Review Panel from other participants.
The Workplace Relations & Safety team at HWL Ebsworth can provide assistance to employers interested in making submissions to the Review Panel.
For a copy of the Review Panel's background paper (including the 69 questions) visit http://www.deewr.gov.au/WorkplaceRelations/Policies/FairWorkActReview/Documents/FWAReview_Background_Paper.pdf
For further information please contact:
For information on our Workplace Relations & Safety Group click here. |
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