Fair Work Amendment Bill 2013 introduced to Federal Parliament

In a bill introduced to Federal Parliament on 21 March 2013, more changes are on the way for the Fair Work Act 2009 (CTH). The Fair Work Amendment Bill 2013 will implement several more of the Panel’s recommendations and a number of reforms which reflect the Government’s policy priorities. The Bill has been developed following extensive consultation by Government with employer and union stakeholders following the conclusion of the Fair Work Act Review.

In particular, the Bill will make amendments to:

• introduce new family friendly arrangements, including expanding the right for pregnant women to transfer to a safe job, providing further flexibility in relation to concurrent unpaid parental leave, ensuring that any special maternity leave taken will not reduce an employee’s entitlement to unpaid parental leave and expanding access to the right to request flexible working arrangements to more groups of employees;

• require employers to consult with employees about the impact of changes to regular rosters or hours of work, particularly in relation to family and caring responsibilities;

• amend the modern awards objective to require that the Fair Work Commission (FWC), when ensuring that modern awards together with the National Employment Standards provide a fair and relevant minimum safety net of terms and conditions, take into account the need to provide additional remuneration for employees working overtime; unsocial, irregular or unpredictable hours; working on weekends or public holidays; or working shifts;

• give the FWC capacity to deal with disputes about the frequency of visits to premises for discussion purposes;

• provide for interviews and discussions to be held in rooms or areas agreed to by the occupier and permit holder, or in the absence of agreement, in any room or area in which one or more of the persons who may be interviewed or participate in the discussions ordinarily take meal or other breaks and is provided by the occupier for that purpose;

• facilitate, where agreement cannot be reached, accommodation and transport arrangements for permit holders in remote areas and to provide for limits on the amounts that an occupier can charge a permit holder under such arrangements to cost recovery;

• give the FWC capacity to deal with disputes in relation to accommodation and transport arrangements and ensure appropriate conduct by permit holders while being accommodated or transported under an accommodation or transport arrangement;

• expressly confer on the FWC the function of promoting cooperative and productive workplace relations and preventing disputes; and

• make a number of minor technical amendments.

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