Fair Work Amendment Bill 2012 completes Government Review of Fair Work Legislation

In line with the Government's commitment to undertake a review of the Fair Work legislation, The Fair Work Act Review Panel has completed its deliberations and delivered a report of mainly technical amendments. This is contained in the Fair Work Amendment Bill 2012 introduced into the House of Representatives on 30 October 2012.

The bill amends the Fair Work Legislation to make:

• technical amendments in relation to striking out applications to vary modern awards in certain circumstances and in relation to the parties able to apply to amend modern awards

• technical amendments in relation to the notification requirements for scope order applications and the form of the notice of employee representational rights

• amendments to clarify that opt-out terms cannot be included in enterprise agreements, that enterprise agreements cannot be made with only one employee and that a union official from one union cannot act as a bargaining representative where that union does not have coverage

• amendments to align the time limits for lodging unfair dismissal claims and general protections claims involving dismissal at 21 days and to provide new measures in relation to dismissing unfair dismissal applications and costs orders in certain circumstances

• amendments to clarify which union members are able to vote on and participate in protected industrial action and the conduct of protected action ballots, including allowing for electronic voting and requiring ballots to be conducted expeditiously

• structural amendments to FWA including:

• changing the name to the Fair Work Commission (FWC), and necessary consequential and transitional amendments

• providing for the appointment of the General Manager to be made on the nomination of the FWC President

• allowing stay orders to be made by Presidential Members

• allowing for the appointment of acting Commissioners

• creating 2 statutory positions of Vice President

• including a process to deal with complaints against FWC members and streamlining provisions dealing with conflicts of interest of members, and

• other minor amendments to improve the conduct of matters before the FWC.

For more information or to see the changes proposed by the bill, apply for a free trial to TimeBase's LawOne Service, a one stop shop for Australian Legislation at a cheaper price; One of the many services provided by TimeBase.