Department of Commerce

Kate DarcyEducation Officer

Education and Advisory Services

Labour Relations

www.commerce.wa.gov.au/LabourRelations

Topics to be covered

Labour Relations in WA

Awards and Agreements

Types of working arrangements

Employer obligations

Termination and Dismissal

What system are you in?

State System

Soul Trader Partnership

1300 655 266 13 13 94

National System

Constitutional CorporationPTY LTD

Awards and Agreements

• Legal documents that are set by government bodies (WAIRC, FWA)

• Policed and enforced by government departments (e.g. Commerce, Fairwork)

• Awards for different occupations ie: Hairdressers, Security, etc

• Agreements are for that business alone ie: McDonalds, Coles etc

What they contain

• Type of employment (F/T, P/T, or casual)• Pay rates and penalty rates – overtime• Allowances – meal, tool, location• Public Holidays • Leave – annual, sick, carer’s, etc• Uniforms

Note: You DO NOT have to sign anything to be covered.

Minimum Conditions

• Rates of pay• Weekly hours• Leave entitlements (annual, sick, carer’s, parental, bereavement)• Every hour worked is paid• No unauthorised deductions from pay

Working Arrangements

Permanent: Full Time, Part time– Regular hours, same roster– Ongoing work– Paid leave

Casual– Irregular hours, roster

varies– Only work when needed,

can refuse work– No paid leave– Higher hourly rate

S M T W T F S10-4

9-5 9-5 9-5 9-5

10-4

9-5 9-5 9-5 9-5

S M T W T F S12-3

10-2

11-9

10-1

9-12

10-2

Leave Entitlements

Permanent staff4 weeks paid holidays (17.5% loading)10 days paid sick/carers leave10 public holidays

All staff2 days paid bereavement leave per

occasionParental leave

Long service leave

Working Arrangements

What are the characteristics of permanent and casual staff?

Trial Work

Before engaging on any trial work, always ask these three questions:

1) What job will I be doing?2) Will I get paid for it?3) How long will the trial go for?

Try get in writing

Employees- Have tax file number (TFN)- Employer controls what, when and how they work- Paid by the hour

Sub-contractors- Have an Australian business number (ABN)- They are their own business, so they control what, when and how they

work- Paid by result

Sham Contracting- Employee in nature but the employer pays under an ABN- Is illegal

Working Arrangements

Employers Obligations

A Safe Workplace

Equal Opportunity

Workers’ Compensation

Long Service Leave

Superannuation

Taxation

Employee obligations

As an employee you have the following obligations to your employer

To follow lawful commands Duty to account for monies received Confidentiality, duty and care

Termination

• Unlawful dismissalGender, race, colour, age etc

• Unfair Dismissal – no valid or fair reasonCapacity to do the jobConduct or BehaviourOperational requirements of the business - redundancy

• Procedural fairness Step 1. Notify employee of the problem

Step 2. Outline the changes that must occurStep 3. Give them an opportunity to respond with a time

frame

Termination

What is a fair reason to be fired?

Disputes! what to do

Collect all the correct information Follow the dispute settlement procedure Keep ALL records – payslips, correspondence

etc 6 year statute of limitations

www.commerce.wa.gov.au/wageline

1300 655 266

A word of advice

This presentation has been provided as a general

overview only.

Specific professional advice should be sought in each case before acting or not acting on the information

contained in this presentation.