With the federal election comes a change in government, and many human resources practitioners, managers and business owners will be asking ‘what’s going to change as far as workplace laws go?’
The answer, at least in the short term, is not very much. The medium to long term answer to that question is not yet clear, although the pre-election policy of the Liberal/National Party Coalition (the Coalition) does give some indications as to the areas of likely change.
The next 12 months: some small changes and one big one
The Coalition policy released before the election clearly stated that it intended to only make modest changes to the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act).
Review of Fair Work Act
The policy document itself does not provide much detail on what changes might be introduced, but it does promise a review of the Act by the Productivity Commission. The policy also states that the Coalition will implement ‘many’ of the recommendations of the recent Fair Work Review Panel, with 13 of the recommendations listed in the Coalition policy.
Bullying jurisdiction
As an example, the Coalition has already indicated that it won’t repeal the changes introduced by the previous Labor government which gave the Fair Work Commission (the Commission) jurisdiction to deal with bullying complaints. It is likely, however, that some sort of ‘screening’ mechanism will be introduced prior to complaints being dealt with by the Commission.
Superannuation
The Coalition’s policy is that the further increases to compulsory superannuation will be delayed for 2 years. If this is legislated, the next 0.25% increase scheduled for 1 July 2014 would be delayed until 1 July 2016.
Enterprise bargaining and unions
The Coalition has flagged changes to the right of entry provisions, limiting the ability of union officials from entering non-unionised workplaces. The pre-election policy also provides for changes to the operation of Individual Flexibility Agreements, removing the ability to limit their scope in enterprise agreements.
Changes to the enterprise bargaining provisions in the Act are also set out, including new arrangements for greenfields agreements, and introducing productivity as a matter for consideration by the Commission when approving agreements.
Construction Industry
The Coalition has also promised to reintroduce the Australian Building and Construction Commission, although this change is likely to be resisted in the Senate. This change will not impact on employers outside of the construction industry.
The paid parental leave scheme
One change that is likely to be introduced in the first 12 months, if not fully implemented, is the expanded paid parental leave scheme.
The expanded paid parental leave scheme will provide eligible employees with six months parental leave, paid at their full rate of pay (or the federal minimum wage, whichever is greater), plus superannuation.
Given the criticisms of the way in which the current paid parental leave scheme is administered, it is likely that employers will no longer be required to pay the employee and be reimbursed by the government.
It remains to be seen how this scheme will interact with any existing paid parental leave entitlements provided by individual employers.
Longer term changes
Given the commitment to a review of the Act by the Productivity Commission, it is likely that any further or more substantial changes will be delayed until after that review has concluded. The timetable for this review is currently unclear.
The comments during the election campaign by Prime Minister-Elect, Mr Abbott, regarding the WorkChoices reforms would also suggest that any changes in the workplace relations system are likely to be introduced gradually.
So what should employers be doing to prepare?
For the moment at least, it is business as usual as far as major workplace relations changes go.
It appears unlikely that there will be any major changes to the Act in the short to medium term. The makeup of the Senate may prevent any significant legislative amendments from passing without further negotiation.
As changes are made to the Act and the workplace relations system more broadly, make sure that you keep in touch with the Employment and Workplace Relations Team at Kligers, as we’ll be releasing further bulletins as things develop.
More information
For more information, please contact a member of our Employment and Workplace Relations team on (03) 8600 8888.
Note: This update is a guide only and is not intended to constitute legal advice.