Refresher on the Fair Work Act: Maintaining Compliance in Australia

For a company to maintain compliance in Australia, key personnel like managers and HR specialists as well as the business owner should take a Refresher on the Fair Work Act. This is a training course to help participants review the Fair Work Act 2009 and frame the provisions in this law within the current situation.

The Fair Work Act 2009, or simply the Fair Work Act, is a group of laws on workplace relations. This is a group of federal legislation that is far reaching and affects business processes and activities in Australia. To give you an idea of the extent of coverage of the Fair Work Act, just consider the National Employment Standards (NES) which is covered by the Fair Work Act. The NES in turn covers personal leaves, annual leaves and parental leaves, carer’s leave, flexible work conditions, maximum work hours, holiday work, termination, community service and redundancy.

It’s been almost three years since the Fair Work Act 2009 took effect so a refresher on the Fair Work Act would be a good way to get reacquainted with the salient aspects of this federal law. It’s also a good idea to study the decisions over the past few years that have been handed down on suits that are affected by this federal law. Analyzing these decisions would give a better idea about the provisions of the act as well as give a deeper understanding of the applications and interpretations. Studying these decisions can help rethink strategies that have been used to remain compliant. A refresher training course should help understand how the federal act changed so many aspects of prevailing laws on industrial relations. Among others, the Fair Work Act changed some aspects of handling union rights of entry, disputes, dismissal and good faith bargaining.

Training will also help beef up knowledge on protected industrial action, Enterprise Agreements (EA) and help in preparing for claims or issues that would be brought to Fair Work Australia, also known as the national workplace relations tribunal.

Being up to date with the changes in existing laws certainly help companies remain compliant. Companies that achieve compliance, as we know, are those that meet the requirements set by local, state and federal laws. This requires skill and knowledge to be able to navigate a number of tax, employment and other applicable laws.

But the main concern with compliance, as with Refresher on the Fair Work Act and other similar training courses, is for the employer to be aware of his or her rights and responsibilities and to make sure that the rights of the employees and of the employers are protected. Which are the areas and laws that require specific attention? They include, aside from all aspects that are affected by the Fair Work Act, all aspects of Enterprise Agreements (EA) or enterprise bargaining agreements; all recruitment and hiring processes and concerns, including those that involve migration services; all requirements and aspects of industrial relations (IR) and all suits submitted to the Fair Work Australia. ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Kylie Milan is a HR with an experience of being a good provider of a full suite on demand solutions for an employee recognition, reward and training program. Aside from that, she knows a company with a Refresher on the Fair Work Act, for maintaining compliance in Australia.