By Michael Cochrane (Senior Associate), Josephine Mammone (Trainee Lawyer) and Stephanie Koumbarakos (Trainee Lawyer)
There has been much discussion about the macroeconomic picture of our workplace relations system in recent times with the gig economy, “wage theft”, the ACTU’s “change the rules” campaign, enterprise bargaining trends – and of course that leadership circus in Canberra a couple of weeks ago! That said, in case you haven’t been following it, the Fair Work Commission has been working away for a long time on the 4 yearly review of modern awards and plain language drafting review.
On the whole, a number of these changes will inevitably increase (and, in some cases, have already increased) the cost of doing business, particularly in terms of running Award-sensitive businesses. This continues to occur in the face of the existential threats posed by the gig economy, while also only further complicating the “better off overall test” for the purposes of making enterprise agreements.
Whether the changes have an impact on your business will depend on whether your employees are covered by the varied Awards and enterprise agreements that are underpinned by the varied Awards, particularly if any agreements have or will soon have expired.
We have summarised some of the key changes in our Q2 update which you can access by clicking on the link below.
