“Fair Work” in South Australia?

By Andrew Stewart

The South Australian government has released for comment the draft Industrial Law Reform (Fair Work) Bill 2004.

Changes proposed by the bill include:

· changes to the way proceedings are handled in the Industrial Relations Court of SA and the Industrial Relations Commission of SA

· a requirement from the SAIRC to apply the principle of "equal remuneration for men and women" and also to review awards to ensure they "reflect appropriate standards with respect to employment of children"

· access to the unfair dismissal jurisdiction for employees engaged for a specific task or period who have a "reasonable expectation of continuing employment" but who are not provided with continuing employment

· extension of the minimum annual leave entitlement from four to five weeks in the case of "seven day week workers" - those rostered to work ordinary hours on any day of the week and regularly rostered to work on Sundays and public holidays

· empowering inspectors to issue "compliance notices" that require an employer to take steps to comply with their obligations under an award, an agreement or the Act itself, on penalty of a fine.

Stewart here analyses the regulation of contract work and labour hire under the bill, the role of the SAIRC in collective bargaining and the use of awards of general application to set minimum standards.

(CCH Industrial Law News. issue 2. 25 February 2004)