Anne Holmes
New measures
Workplace bullying – individual right of recourse
The Fair Work Amendment Bill 2013 currently before the Parliament gives the Fair Work Commission the power to issue orders to stop workplace bullying.[1] The Budget provides $21.4 million over four years in extra resources for the Commission to carry out this new function.[2]
The anti-bullying measure follows growing public uneasiness about workplace bullying. A recent inquiry by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Employment recommended that workers who are bullied should have a right to seek remedies through an adjudicative process.[3] This measure is a part of the government’s response to that report.
Establishment of an individual right to seek remedies was widely supported, but there was some debate about what the mechanism should be. Some employer groups argued that bullying is not a workplace relations issue, but a work health and safety issue.[4] There was also some concern about the possibility of forum shopping and confusion between the workplace relations jurisdiction and the work health and safety jurisdiction. There was, however, a good deal of support for using the Fair Work Commission because its processes are well understood, relatively speedy, and not costly.[5]
Funding for this measure comes partly from a reduction in funding to the Office of the Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate.
Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency
The Budget includes funding of $10.5 million for the establishment of the Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency within the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. Legislation for the establishment of the agency is before the Parliament.[6] The Bills digest for the Bill contains useful background information.[7]
The Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency will coordinate the implementation of a national strategic plan to improve asbestos management and awareness. The plan is due for release on 1 July 2013. A draft of the plan has been released for public comment.[8] It states its goal as ‘to minimise exposure to asbestos fibres, in order to eliminate asbestos-related disease in Australia’, and sets out strategies under the headings: Awareness; Better Practice; Identification and Removal; Research; and International Coordination.[9] Asbestos management is currently regulated by the states and territories, and part of the Agency’s work will be to develop nationally consistent responses.
The Agency will support an Asbestos Safety and Eradication Council to advise the Minister and the Chief Executive Officer. Part of the funding will be used for research and communication activities to improve asbestos awareness.
Funding for this measure comes partly from a reduction in funding to the Office of the Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate.
Other funding decisions
Fair Work Ombudsman
The 2010–11 Budget included funding of approximately $20 million a year for three years for the Office of the Fair Work Ombudsman to assist in establishing the national workplace relations system, including providing education, guidance and mediation services to employers and employees.[10] The 2013–14 Budget provides for a partial continuation of that funding, to the extent of $25.7 million over four years.
Funding for this measure comes partly from a reduction in funding to the Office of the Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate.
The Fair Work Ombudsman will also receive an additional $3.4 million over four years to monitor and enforce employer compliance with conditions for 457 visas. These visas require that workers be paid market rates and be employed in specific jobs. Previously the Fair Work Ombudsman could hear complaints of abuse but could not undertake checks for compliance.
Office of the Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate
Funding for the Office of the Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate has been cut by $24 million over four years. The savings will be achieved through changed administrative and procedural practices.
This cut of $6 million a year is substantial in the light of total available resources for the Fair Work Building Inspectorate in 2012–13 of $73 million.[11] On the other hand, funding for the Inspectorate at $65 million for 2013–14 is still comparable to funding for the predecessor body, the Office of the Australian Building and Construction Commission, which was $68 million in 2010–11.[12]
The savings from this measure will partly fund the three other measures discussed above.
Other measures
The Budget provides $6.2 million over four years to establish a Pay Equity Unit in the Fair Work Commission. The Unit will initially focus on the early childhood education and care sector, collecting data and conducting research. This measure is an element of the Government’s program to boost the quality of early childhood education, which is dealt with elsewhere in this brief.
The Fair Entitlements Guarantee Scheme assists workers who are owed money when their employer enters liquidation or bankruptcy.[13] Until now, outworkers, some of whom are very vulnerable workers, have not been able to claim under the scheme because they are not employees. (The situation of outworkers in the textiles, clothing and footwear industry was improved by amendments last year to the Fair Work Act 2009 which made businesses along the value chain responsible for moneys unpaid by other businesses in the value chain.[14]) The Budget includes funds of $1.2 million over five years to extend the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Scheme to outworkers in the textiles, clothing and footwear industry.
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