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Copyright  2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd. PPTs t/a Fundamentals of Business Law 4e
Copyright © 2000 McGraw-Hill Au
by Barron & Fletcher. Slides prepared by Kay Fanning.
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Workplace relations law
Chapter 22
Copyright  2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd. PPTs t/a Fundamentals of Business Law 4e
Sources of workplace relations law
Federal (Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cwlth)) and
State legislation
Objectives:
• Provide rights and obligations not available to
common law
• Codify and expand the common law
• Provide rights and obligations across the
workforce
• Redress what is regarded as unequal bargaining
power in contractual negotiations between an
employer and an employee
Copyright  2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd. PPTs t/a Fundamentals of Business Law 4e 22-3
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Regulation by industrial
awards
Includes:
Statutory employment terms
Industrial award terms
Statutory Employment Agreement terms
• Objects of Awards:
Legally binding order of Industrial Tribunal relating to
industrial matters, including:
- wages
- conditions of employment.
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awards
• Making of industrial awards:
Compliance with - relevant legislation
- administrative law principles of
natural justice
Utilises conciliation and arbitration
• Parties bound by industrial awards:

Employers specifically named in award
Members of named employer associations
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awards
• Duration and cancellation of awards:
 Specified duration when made
 Cancellation by Industrial Tribunal
Variation of awards:
By Industrial Tribunal which made it
• Interpretation of awards:
By Federal and State Courts
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awards
• Minimum and paid rate awards:
Minimum legal obligations of employers and employees
stated
• Award simplification:
 Statutory obligations on Australian Industrial Relations
Commission to simplify industrial awards
 Only twenty specified “allowable matters” to be
included
 (Additional provisions are not enforceable)
• Award test cases:
Allows general rulings of principle to be laid down
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Statutory Employment
Agreements
Contractual arrangements between employer
and employee
• Statutory agreement-making objects
• Legal effect of Statutory Employment Agreements
• Types of Statutory Employment Agreements
• Negotiation of Statutory Employment Agreements
• The “no disadvantage” test
• State Statutory Employment Agreements
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Types of Statutory
Employment Agreements
• Collective agreements
• Individual agreements
• Multi-employee agreements
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Statutory Employment
Agreements
• Statutory agreement-making
objects: Primary responsibility for
determining industrial matters rests
with employers and employees in the
workplace
– Certified Agreements (CAs)
– Australian Workplace Agreements
(AWAs)
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Negotiations if Statutory Employment
Agreement
i.e. Enterprise Bargaining Agreements
- protective action
- bargaining agent
• Certified Agreements:
Agreement between
- employer and one or more unions
- employer and employees
• Australian Workplace Agreements:
Agreement between
-employer and individual employee
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The “no disadvantage” test
• Agreements must not, on balance,
result in a reduction in an employee’s
overall terms and conditions of
employment, compared with the
relevant award and statutory terms
that would otherwise apply to his/her
employment.
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State Statutory Employment
Agreements
• State Employment Agreements will

prevail over Federal Awards.
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Statutory workplace relations
bodies
• Australian Industrial Relations

Commission (AIRC)
• Office of the Employment Advocate
(OEA)
• Industrial Register
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Australian Industrial
Relations Bodies
Principal conciliation and arbitration body established
by the Federal Workplace Relations System
Functions:
• Hear and determine “industrial matters” arising out of
interstate industrial disputes.
• Make industrial awards binding on employers and
employees.
• Simplify industrial awards.
• Inquisitional functions.
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Office of the Employment Advocate
Functions:
• To provide advice and assistance to employees and
employers about their rights and obligations
• To provide advice and assistance to employees and
employers making AWAs
• To receive and approve AWAs where required
• To investigate complaints and breaches of AWAs
• To investigate breaches of freedom of association laws
• To provide legal representation to parties where
appropriate, concerning AWAs and freedom of association
• To provide statistical information
• To perform any other appropriate functions prescribed by
the Act
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Office of the Employment
Advocate
Regard for:
• Needs of workers in disadvantaged
positions
• Assisting workers in balancing work and
family responsibilities
• Promoting better work and management
practices throughout Australia
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Industrial Register
Appointed under Federal and State Workplace
Relations Laws
Functions:
• Receipt and filing of applications made to relevant
industrial tribunal
• Provision of administrative support to members of the
tribunal
• Registration and deregistration of associations of
employers and employees
• Investigation of complaints about financial affairs of
such associations.
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Workplace relations
organisations
• Registration of organisations
• Rights of registered organisations
• Rights of entry
• Duties of registered organisations
• Freedom of association
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Freedom of association
Covers:
– Whether membership of trade unions is
voluntary or compulsory
– Whether there is a choice to make
statutory workplace agreements
– The legitimacy of bargaining fees paid
to unions
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Industrial action and
enforcement
Forms of industrial action
• Employee - Picket Lines

- Work bans
- Work-to-rule campaigns
• Employer - Lock-out
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enforcement
Lawfulness of industrial action:
• Contract Law
• Law of Torts - Industrial torts
- Inducement to breach contractual obligations
- Conspiracy to injure
- Intimidation
- Trespass
• Statute law:
Industrial Awards
Orders of industrial tribunals
Statutory Employment Agreements
Workplace Relations statutes
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Industrial action and enforcement
Protected action:
Lawful industrial action is
– allowed while negotiating statutory employment
agreements
– undertaken by parties to negotiations
– preceded by written notice of intended
protected action at least three working days
prior to action being undertaken
– preceded by genuine attempts for agreement
– protected for specified period of time
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enforcement
Strike pay
• Payment of wages to employees
engaged in industrial action is
unlawful unless action caused by
genuine health and safety issues.
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enforcement
Orders preventing industrial action
• AIRC can make orders enforceable by
Federal Court of Australia
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enforcement
Remedies for unlawful industrial
action:
• Damages
• Injunctions
• Specific performance
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enforcement
Secondary boycotts
• Industrial action taken involving action
directed at innocent third party, with
whom the target employer is dealing.
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enforcement
Conciliation and arbitration of
disputes
• Undertaken by relevant industrial
tribunal; legislation restricts powers
of relevant tribunal.
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enforcement
Enforcement:
• Unlawful industrial action
- Civil action
- Prosecution
• Industrial offences under statute
- Workplace Relations Inspectors
- Statutory Office Holders
• Breaches of Awards or Agreements
- Relevant Courts
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• Parties bound by industrial awards:

• State Employment Agreements will

• Australian Industrial Relations

• Employee - Picket Lines

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