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The Federal Government has announced another round of amendments to the Workplace Relations legislation, with some changes representing a reverse and reflecting the Act as it was pre-WorkChoices.
The amendments are:
Leave accrual for work over 38 hours
Employees will not be able to accrue annual leave and personal/carer’s leave for hours worked above 38 hours per week. This addresses the concern of employees accruing extra paid leave whilst they were working regular overtime.
Quantum payable for leave
This amendment will refine the calculation of personal / carer’s / compassionate leave and leave for pregnant mothers for whom no safe job is available. Employees must be paid their basic periodic rate of pay, rather than basing the amount on what they could have reasonably expected to have been paid (i.e. penalty rates, shift allowances and rostered overtime).
Cashing out personal/carer's leave
Currently prohibited, this change will allow employees to cash out their accrued personal/carer's leave where there is agreement with their employer in writing. A full-time employee must be left with at least 15 days of personal leave after cashing out.
12 month protection on redundancy entitlements
Redundancy entitlements in workplace agreements will be protected for up to 12 months if the agreement is terminated by the employer, regardless of whether 90 days has passed from the expiry date or a successful application has been made to the Australian Industrial Relations Court for an agreement to be terminated. The preserved redundancy entitlement will only apply to employees employed at the time the agreement was terminated.
Standing down employees
Employers will be able to stand down employees where work is unavailable due to factors outside an employer’s control. This was previously a common award provision.
Record keeping
Employers will be required to record only those hours for which an employee is entitled to overtime or penalty rates and not all hours worked. However, employers are still required to record hours for all casual and irregular part-time employees, where they are paid on an hourly basis.
These changes come just after Commonwealth Parliament passed the following amendments in September 2006:
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Immunity from prosecution for failure to comply with new record keeping obligations extended to 26 March 2007; and
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Prohibition against employers financially penalising employees for absence due to illness or failure to provide proper evidence or notice of illness.
For further information, please contact Rachel Drew on (07) 3292 9717 or email
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