The road to recovery industrial relations bill

The Australian Government’s highly anticipated industrial relations reform legislation, the Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Bill 2020 has been introduced in Parliament, following a lengthy roundtable process which involved input from employer organisations and unions. 

The Bill, which aims to improve the operation and usability of Australia’s industrial relations system, will see the following significant changes being made if passed in its current form:

• a statutory definition of ‘casual employee’ will be included in the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (Fair Work Act) for the first time to provide certainty for employers and employees in relation to casual employment arrangements;
• a casual conversion entitlement will be included in the National Employment Standards of the Fair Work Act, requiring employers to make offers to their regular casual employees to convert to full time and part-time employment if those employees meet certain criteria and also allowing employees to make such requests.  Disputes can be referred to the Fair Work Commission but can only be arbitrated by consent of the parties;
• courts will have the ability to offset any casual loading paid against any amount being claimed by an employee for permanent employment entitlements (e.g. paid leave benefits) in circumstances where the employee has been misclassified as a casual employee;
• allowing part-time employees covered by certain modern awards to enter into a written agreement with their employer to enable them to work additional agreed hours beyond their contracted hours at ordinary rates (unless the hours are worked outside the span of ordinary hours in which case normal penalty rates apply);
• a new criminal offence for dishonest and systematic wage underpayments will be included in the Fair Work Act, and the value and scope of civil penalties for underpayments and non-compliance will be increased;
• the simplification of aspects of the enterprise agreement making process, including implementing temporary measures to permit the Fair Work Commission to approve enterprise agreements that do not meet the better off overall test in certain circumstances; and
• the extension of JobKeeper flexible work directions for employees covered by certain modern awards.

The Bill is likely to be debated and considered into early 2021 and amendments to its current form are highly likely.