Changes from the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill 2022

The changes to the Fair Work Act are underway following Royal Assent of the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill 2022 (“the Bill”) that was passed through Parliament last week.

There are now immediate changes in effect, as well as changes that are to be incorporated into the Fair Work Act in the next few months. These include:

• multi-employer bargaining;
• restrictions on fixed term contracts to 24 months;
• new powers of the Fair Work Commission in dealing with flexible working requests;
• removal of the Australia Building and Construction Commission;
• simplifying the Better Off Overall Test (“BOOT”) in enterprise agreement bargaining;
• prohibition of sexual harassment in the Act;
• prohibition of pay secrecy clauses; and
• immediate inclusion of breastfeeding, gender identity and intersex status as protected attributes.

In terms of enterprise agreements, the bargaining process will see to a change that is ‘simpler’ and any errors would be addressed by the new power provided to the Fair Work Commission to deal with such matters.

Further, changes include the abolition of the Registered Organisations Commission (ROC) and the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC). The transfer of regulatory and enforcement responsibility from these two bodies will be given to the Fair Work Commission.

Key Takeaways

• The biggest changes to the industrial relations scene in years would be in force once the Bill receives Royal Assent.
• The Bill grants powers to the Fair Work Commission to be responsible for disputes originally handle by the ABCC and ROC, as well as errors or disputes related to enterprise agreements.

Resources

• Comments to the Amendment Bill by Senator David Pocock can be found here.

If you require any assistance in incorporating the new IR and Respect at Work laws into practice at your company, please contact IRIQ Law on (07) 3077 6767 and we can help you.