fair work act
By Michele Jones, Employee Relations Manager

Now that the Fair Work Act is fully up and running, the implications and consequences for employers are starting to be felt. For one thing there has been a substantial increase in unfair dismissals lodged since 1 July 2009. Many employers are now exposed to unfair dismissal claims that were previously not. The good news is that sound termination procedures will still prevail over ambit claims, where there is genuine reason for dismissal.

The number of award free employees is now significantly less and will be mainly restricted to more senior managerial staff, professional or certain sales roles. If you do not have an enterprise agreement (or an approved individual agreement) your employees will be covered by a modern award or will be award free.

The modern awards can be deceptively difficult when working out which award covers your employees. This is because there are industry based awards as well as occupational based awards, which cover the same type of work classifications. The general rule is that an industry specific award will override an occupational award for the same type of job.

RossJuliaRoss’ Human Resource Outsourcing Division can provide expert advice on IR and HR matters, avoiding many potential workplace issues.