What the election result will mean for Industrial Relations laws.
After 17 days of deliberations, the Independents have decided to join with the Labor Party to form a minority government.
What this means for employers is that, for the next parliamentary term at least, it is highly unlikely that there will be any major change to the Fair Work Act and the Australian Industrial Relations system, particularly as any minority government will have difficulty getting major legislative changes through Parliament.
The truth of the matter is that even though the Fair Work Act is unlikely to be removed, government has scope to change the Industrial Relations system while still keeping the Fair Work Act intact.
It likely that, if change is deemed to be necessary, the government will use the mechanisms already available to make changes without disturbing the basis of the system being the Fair Work Act.
There is scope for change through the regulations, through appointments of people to Fair Work Australia (FWA).
Gillard ruled out in the debate the possibility of changing the award modernisation process to give any disadvantaged employers an opportunity for redress.
While the election has changed the composition of the Senate, the Greens still maintain the balance of power. These changes will not take effect until 1 July 2011. In the meantime, the Greens and Independents will still maintain control, and it is unlikely that any major change will be proposed during the period between now and the new Senate coming into power.
When the Greens and Independents take their new positions, they are unlikely to approve changes to the regulations that will remove employee protections.
FWA will conduct a review of all modern awards, except modern enterprise awards, in 2012 to ensure they are operating effectively and in accordance with the modern awards objective which may result in some changes to the modern awards. It is possible that this may be the only change to the Industrial Relations System under a Labor Government, as they give the public time to determine if the Fair Work system time needs change or works as it is.
In general, it appears that the basis of the Fair Work Act will remain. Employers need to be complaint with the Fair Work Act as it is likely to stay for at least the next three years. With fines for each breach being $33,000 for companies and $6,000 for individuals, employers should not delay in addressing all areas of non compliance.
Of the businesses surveyed in our recent Fair Work Act compliance survey, 37.5% of businesses did not pass our questionnaire and were in need of assistance.
If you need help with compliance, or are not sure what to do next to make sure you are complying with the requirements of the Fair Work Act, please feel free to give us a call.
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