MEDIA RELEASE
Sunday 3 January 2010
EMPLOYERS NEED TO ENSURE THEY UNDERSTAND
NEW WORKPLACE RULES
Statement by Heather Ridout
Chief Executive Australian Industry Group
"Business will this week be operating in a whole new environment of workplace regulation
with the introduction of so-called Modern Awards and the new National Employment
Standards. With the massive regulatory change, employers can potentially get into a lot of
trouble in a lot of new places
unless they move quickly
to understand the new rules and
entitlements," Ai Group Chief Executive Heather Ridout said today.
"The National Employment Standards and modern awards deal with day-to-day employment
issues such as minimum pay rates, hours of work and leave entitlements. Employers need to
ensure that they comply with the new “safety net”.
These changes are on top of the new
workplace laws that
have operated since
July last year and which include new bargaining,
unfair dismissal and general protections laws.
“There is a great deal of assistance available to employers from industry associations, such
as Ai Group, and from Government sources.
“Thousands of employers have attended briefing sessions and training courses conducted by
Ai Group but it is clear that many thousands have not yet focussed on this issue.
“Award modernisation has been a massive and extremely complicated task. Also, the
National Employment Standards are far from straightforward. While the Fair Work Act
contains tough penalties for non-compliance, the Office of the Fair Work Ombudsman needs
to take an educative, rather than heavy-handed
approach
in ensuring compliance,
particularly in the early stages of implementation.
“If problems become apparent in the legislation or
in
the modern awards, the Government
and Fair Work Australia need to address the problems without delay.
“Australia needs to maintain a flexible and productive system of workplace entitlements. The
benefit of flexibility was very evident during the recent economic downturn with higher
employment levels achieved in Australia than in other developed nations,” Mrs Ridout said.
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