Australian workers' rights have changed significantly over the past 18 months, with the Albanese government introducing multiple stages of reforms to better protect job security, pay entitlements and flexible working arrangements, among other things.
Some amendments to the nation's Fair Work Act have already been implemented under the federal government’s 2022 Secure Jobs, Better Pay bill, and the first phase of its Closing Loopholes bill — which passed parliament in 2023.
More are set to follow, with the latest industrial relation bill containing proposals that will gradually come into effect after passing parliament on Monday.
Chris F Wright, associate professor at the University of Sydney Business School, described the amendments as "necessary" to account for several decades' worth of changes within the Australian economy.
"The research evidence indicates the thrust of these changes are important for rebalancing the landscape between employees and employers, after basically a 30-year shift of legislation that had very much favoured employers," Wright — who was an expert witness at both the Senate committee inquiries into the Secure Jobs, Better Pay legislation and Closing Loopholes — told SBS News.
Giuseppe Carabetta, associate professor of employment law at UTS Business School, described the changes as "significant, in that they shift to a certain extent bargaining power back to workers, give workers greater and more easily accessible legal protections, and, if one does the maths, will deliver increased wages".
Here are some of the more notable ways in which workers' rights have changed.
The latest reforms
Part two of the federal government's Closing Loopholes includes a so-called , which will empower workers to ignore work calls and emails after hours. There will, however, be provisions for bosses calling employees about changes to their rostered shifts.
And the changes will not cover managers who need to talk to businesses in other time zones overnight, as well as industries where on-call work is crucial.
But it will be amended due to the bill including criminal penalties for bosses who breach the rules. The government is set to pass separate legislation this week to remove this possibility.
Gig economy workers will get minimum standards, including conditions and pay rates set by the Fair Work Commission. Source: AAP / Bianca De Marchi
Casuals working permanent hours will have the option to transition to permanent work, and will get minimum standards, including conditions and pay rates set by the Fair Work Commission.
Rideshare and food delivery platform Uber has welcomed this amendment.
"Drivers and delivery people have told us consistently that choosing how and when they work is what they value most in partnering with Uber. We are pleased that the new laws will recognise the importance of this flexibility while setting out to raise the bar for gig workers," Bec Nyst, managing director of Uber Eats Australia, said in a statement provided to SBS News.
Union officials currently need to provide 24 hours' notice if they want to enter a workplace to investigate suspected breaches of the Fair Work Act.
But under the new laws, the Fair Work Commission can waive this requirement in the event of suspected underpayments. This expands the exemption grounds, which currently centre on document destruction concerns.
What else has passed?
Some changes are already in effect, including those passed in the 2022 Secure Jobs, Better Pay bill.
Among them are strengthened for those who are pregnant, those who are 55 or older, those who have a disability, those responsible for a child of school age or younger, and those who are experiencing family and domestic violence — or, in this last case, a member of their immediate family or household.
An employer may only reject a flexible working request under certain conditions, such as having proved that they discussed the request with the employee and genuinely tried to reach an agreement.
If employees are unsatisfied with the decision, they can also now raise a dispute.
in employment contracts — that is, clauses that forbid co-workers from discussing and comparing salaries with one another — are also banned.
Employees are also now allowed to disclose any details of their employment — such as number of hours worked, for example — that might allow others to determine "remuneration outcomes".
It's now easier to access , which allows workers in a certain sector, such as childcare, to get together and negotiate a deal that would apply across a number of employers.
And if an employer and employee have been bargaining on an issue such as remuneration for more than nine months, the Fair Work Commission can now issue what is known as an "intractable bargaining declaration".
This is essentially an acknowledgement of the fact that the two parties have reached a deadlock regarding the terms and conditions of employment, after which the Commission can independently decide the matter.
Wage theft is to be criminalised under part one of the Closing Loopholes bill by 1 January 2025. It will mean employers who are found guilty of deliberately withholding wages or superannuation payments face prison terms and fines.
The real impacts of the legislative changes remain to be seen, as do the ways in which employers interpret and enact them.
And while he welcomes the amendments, Carabetta suggested that they are unlikely to be a panacea to all of the targeted issues relating to Australian workers' rights.
"Some of the changes at least will lead to the adoption of other, newer strategies by employers resisting the changes for various reasons," he said.
"This in turn will raise new issues or even create new 'loopholes.'"
- With the Australian Associated Press.
