Simplifying Your Industrial Relations Challenges
On one side of the coin, you have business groups, and those pandering to that agenda telling anyone and everyone who will listen how Australia’s unfair dismissal laws are restrictive and holding business back from employing more people.
Then on the other side of the coin are the unions and The Greens who say that the laws don’t go far enough to protect workers.
With both sides getting time in the press, who is the business owner to believe?
Do you know what workplace bullying looks like?
Could you easily define it as behaviour x?
Or, does it depend on the workplace, and who is involved?
Consider for a minute the two clips below, from the Channel 10 program Studio 10, with both featuring Sarah Harris and Joe Hildebrand.
Clip #1, titled Joe Gets Creamed shows Joe having an ice cream shoved in his face a number of times by Sarah.
This episode is dedicated to answering listener questions.
The first question comes from Simon in Templestowe who asks a question about termination of employment.
The second question comes from Tania in Brisbane who asks a question about enterprise agreements.
There is also the opportunity for listeners to receive a massive 50% discount off the price of a premium access pass to the IR mini Summit in February.
In this episode, I will talk about the continual doom and gloom comments by industry groups, those IR practitioners who mimic their comments, clarifying some confusing points about enterprise agreements, and whats in store in the coming IR mini Summit. Australian Industrial Relations group on LinkedIn IR Simplified mini Summit
In episode 03 of the IR Simplified podcast I talk about penalty rates, and whether we will see their demise at the end of the Fair Work Commission review. I also ask if an employer is really the ‘bad guy’ by wanting to reduce expenses. There is also a little bit of a discussion around … Read more
Steve Knott, Chief Executive of AMMA, when talking about the Fair Work Act 2009 stated “… for too long employers have battled an ineffective and uncompetitive workplace system that creates barriers and distractions to leadership, innovation and productivity.” That unions were “…forcing employers to process a phone book of union claims, effectively excluding any real opportunity to look at ways to improve the competitiveness and productivity of the business”. He goes even further to say that “The system also leaves employers under a constant threat of strike action”
Is he right, making misleading comments, or showing his lack of understanding of Australia’s employment legislation?
It should be noted that the comments above were made in support of the Fair Work Amendment (Bargaining Processes) Bill 2014 which is currently before parliament.
After giving is some serious thought and more than a little bit of prior planning, you have decided that an Enterprise Agreement will be a good thing for the future growth of your business.
What’s got you confused is how you make it happen.
Do you just give your staff an agreement that you prepared earlier and wait for a yay or nay from them? Or, do you give them a blank sheet of paper and get them to write down their wish list, picking and choosing what you want to put into it?
Whilst the process of negotiating an enterprise agreement is relatively easy, there are certain things that need to be done, and in the right order, otherwise you may have some explaining to do when you seek approval from the Fair Work Commission.
Before you can start bargaining for the enterprise agreement, you need to let your staff know that it is happening. This is where the Notice of Employee Representational Rights comes in.
Schedule 2.1 of the Fair Work Regulations 2009 specifies the content that the notice should have.
It is also worth noting that the notice of employee representational rights should be just that, and not have anything else attached to it, either in the email notification or when/if the notice is placed on a notice board.[GARD]
You’ve made the decision to start negotiating your first Enterprise Agreement. Before you send off your Notice of employee representational rights, there are a few things you need to think about first.
With regards to the Fair Work Act 2009, an enterprise agreement is an agreement on certain employment conditions between an employer and their employee(s).
Enterprise Agreements can be between a) An employer and group of employees; b) More than one employer and group of employees; c) One of more employers and one of more unions for a genuine new enterprise (Greenfields Agreement)
Changes to the Fair Work Act 2009(cwth) that came into force on 01 Jan 2014 mean that a worker who believes that they are being bullied at work, can apply to the Fair Work Commission for an order to stop bullying.
Under the Act, a worker is being bullied when a person or a group of people repeatedly behave unreasonably towards a worker or a group of workers AND the behaviour creates a risk to health and safety.
The Fair Work Commission website lists the following as examples of what bullying behaviour may be.
Bullying behaviour may involve, for example, any of the following types of behaviour:
It is important to note, that for the behaviour to be classed as bullying, the behaviour must be repeated and unreasonable and must create a risk to health and safety.
Every industry and field has their fair share of myths and misconceptions, and industrial relations is no different . Some have a resemblance of truth, whilst others are propagated by those within to improve their perceived value to a prospective client.
In no particular order, here are seven of the most common myths surrounding industrial relations
Myth #1
You need to have a degree in Law or Human Resources to understand Industrial Relations
Whilst it may be beneficial to have studied a HR degree if you are working as a generalist that dabbles in IR. If Industrial Relations is going to be your focus, or you are wanting to understand it better for your own business, then a degree isn’t needed.
With the average HR or Law degree doing only a module/unit on Industrial Relations, you would be better off looking at the Fair Work Commission or Fair Work Ombudsman’s website for the answer to any questions that you may have.