Workplace Rghts in New South Wales Samples †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Workplace Rghts in New South Wales. Answer: Workplace rights in New South Wales An employee may be employed under either an agreement or an award. The minimum working conditions at work may be stipulated in registered agreements, legislation or awards. In case a business has registered agreement, which includes the work carried out by the employee of the organization, the minimum pay and conditions in the award shall become applicable[1]. In the event there is no such registered agreement that is applicable to the business and an award covers the business as well as the work carried out by the employees, the minimum pay and conditions in the award shall become applicable. In the absence of any agreement or award, the minimum conditions and pay stipulated in the legislations shall become applicable[2]. The Fair Work Act 2009 is the statute that regulates the workplace rights and obligations in Australia[3]. It sets out terms and conditions of employment and the obligations and tights of the employer and the employees in an organization Employee Entitlements The minimum entitlement of an employee is stipulated in the National Employment Standards (NES) and in the awards[4]. An employment contract or a registered agreement may provide for other entitlements, however, they be not entitled to provide anything less than what is stipulated in the NES or the award that is applicable to the employee. National Employment Standards The NES that are provided to every employee in every employment sector: Maximum weekly hours of work Annual leave Parental leave and related entitlements Request for flexible working arrangements Long service leave Public holidays Community service leave Compassionate/carers/personal leave Provision of Fair Work Information statement Notice of redundancy and termination pay Pay An employer must pay at least the minimum rate set out in the agreement or the national minimum wage for the award free employees. The employees are entitled to allowances for working overtime, working outside regular hours or they may also be entitled to penalty rates for working weekends, public holidays or weekends[5]. The employer is obligated to pay the employees regularly and on requests from the employee, may pay him or her at least once a fortnight[6]. However, an employer is prohibited from deducting any money from the payment made to the employee unless the employee has agreed to the same or it is a legal obligation to do so. Moreover, an employee cannot make any yearly deductions from the annual holiday pay of the employees. The employees are entitled to right pay rates for all the time they work including for the time they have spent at work: Opening and closing the business; Working at unreasonable trial shifts; Training period; Team meeting; Unpaid Work It can take place in the workforce in various forms starting from unpaid job placements to vocational placements, trails, work experience and internships[7]. These positions and jobs are entered into for several reasons such as: To test the job skills of a person; To provide training or work experience as part of formal programs for assisting people to obtain work; To provide a person with job experience in an industry; If a person is not paid for doing certain work, it is considered as lawful under the above circumstances. For instance, where the job seeker is not an employee but is entitled to benefits from the government and is undertaking such work placement as a part of the commonwealth employment program. However, in cases, where a person is working as an employee, they are legally entitled to the pay and conditions stipulated under the Fair Work Act 2009. Nevertheless, if an employee is required to undertake on-job training to perform the job, they should be paid for the hours the employees undertake training. Casual workers are entitled to an additional payment known as loading in the form of compensation for not receiving entitlements stipulated under the NES such as paid leave (sick leaves and other leaves), no notice period before termination and no employment assurance. Termination of employment The employee or the employer may terminate employment by giving proper notice in writing[8]. An employer may dismiss employee if: fixed-term employment contract has expired; Performance is poor; Duties cannot be continued on medical grounds; willful misconduct is exhibited; Downturn in business; Employees are entitled to 16 weeks redundancy pay and 4-5 weeks of termination notice, however, both termination and redundancy is based on the length of service. Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) In Australia, there are certain legislations that governing the disputed regarding the workplaces. Fair Work Act 2009 is one of them. The Act was enacted to maintain the standard of workplace and regulate the employment related matters with ultimate priority. The provisions of the Fair Work Act are known and called as the national workplace relations system. Every company is required to make a balanced work power so that they can gain extra profit and develop the standard of commerce[9]. Provisions of the Fair Work Act help to customize the provisions of workplace and assist a company to promote financial prosperity on national level. Therefore, it can be stated that the ultimate purpose of the Act is to regulate certain norms that will help the company to gain economic benefit. The Act is designed to provide effective employment terms and conditions; chalk out all the rights and responsibilities for the workers and for the employers who are serving the business[10]. It provide guidelines so that the rules of the Act can be complied with at all level; and empowers the jurisdiction of the Fair Work Commission and Fair Work Ombudsman as was held in Fair WorkOmbudsman v Pocomwell Ltd (No 1)[2013][11]. The Act has provided certain national employment standards for the betterment of the company so that the company can regulate their business legally. The provisions of the standards are mandatory for every Australians, provide protection to all the employees, and secure their interest by dealing with the terms and policies of the employment such as working hours, provisions on leave, work flexibility, holidays and notice of termination. According to the Fair Work Act, the employees are given certain kinds of modern award that are dealing with their waging rate, penalty rate, allowances, leave criteria and dispute settlement provisions. Therefore, it can be stated that the provisions of the Act are providing numerous help to the employees to secure their interest and help the employers to regulate their business in a right way. However, criticisms have been made regarding certain provisions of the Act and it has been stated that the Act has certain limitations too. It is fact that the main objective of the Act is to provide fairness in the workplace so that no one can be deprived of his or her legitimate demand[12]. However, a thorough interpretation of the Act reveals the fact that the legislation of the Act is complex and extensive in nature. Additionally, it has been observed that the extensive nature of the Act makes one difficult to understand the facts of the case and provisions and they could not easily navigate the terms of the legislations. The most common facts and problems that are cropped up regarding the provisions that the employers are getting confused by the complex language of the Act and they have committed different acts that are not in accordance with the provisions of the Act. Further, the provisions of the Act are changed frequently and therefore, it is very difficult for the employers to catch the rules or maintain the norms in an effective way. For an example, a recent amendment has been made regarding the general protection claim where certain time limits have been made after the claim and for the claim[13]. The change is that the time limits of the claim have been reduced from 60 days to 21 days. The claim can be done or made against the employers who are treating their employees adversely. It has been observed that the complaints for workplace harassment have been increased and false cases have been lodged now days. The Act has not provided any exception provision for the harassment complaints and therefore, it has not been provided by the Act that what will happen in case of false complaint. The provisions of the Act are not applicable for all the states of Australia; it provides a national standards. Australia is a federal country and therefore, every state is not mandatorily followed up all the rules and regulations of the Act. This becomes a major problem in the application of the Act[14]. Further, the definition of the adverse action should be widen in nature and additional employment interest must be included under the Act; however, the limited interests are also weak point in this case. References Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) Fair WorkOmbudsman v Pocomwell Ltd (No 1)[2013] FCA 250 Floyd, Louise, et al.Employment, Labour and Industrial Law in Australia. Cambridge University Press, 2017. James, Natalie, and Fair Work Ombudsman. "Commonwealth of Australia." (2015). OSullivan, Michelle, et al. "Is individualemployment law displacing the role of trade unions?."Industrial Law Journal44.2 (2015): 222-245. Painter, Richard, and Ann Holmes.Cases and materials on Employment Law. Oxford University Press, USA, 2015. Phillips, Jeffrey, and Nicholas Read. "A casual approach to labels and employment law."Precedent (Sydney, NSW)135 (2016): 48. Skinner, N., B. Pocock, and C. Hutchinson. "A qualitative study of the circumstances and outcomes of the National Employment Standards Right to Request provisions: A report to Fair Work Australia."University of South Australia, Adelaide(2015). Stewart, Andrew.Stewart's guide to employment law. Vol. 3. Sydney: Federation Press, 2013. Walsh, David J.Employment law for human resource practice. Nelson Education, 2015.