Published Tuesday, 13 November, 2007 at 10:00 AM
Minister for Transport, Trade, Employment and Industrial Relations
The Honourable John Mickel
Ombudsman finds Queensland employers bamboozled by Workchoices
Queensland employers are bamboozled by the federal government’s WorkChoices legislation according to the first quarterly report of the Queensland Workplace Rights Ombudsman.
Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations John Mickel today tabled the report, which he said demonstrated clearly the problems being caused by the legislation.
“In just over four months Ombudsman Don Brown’s office has been bombarded with more than 6000 calls”, Mr Mickel said.
“A third of them have been from employers unable to fathom WorkChoices”.
Mr Mickel said the federal government’s decision to allow some Australian Workplace Agreements to operate without the “fairness test”, while post May 7 2007 AWAs were required to pass the “fairness test” was causing enormous confusion.
In his report Mr Brown said in the absence of retrospective application of the “fairness test” it followed that the federal legislation permitted unfair AWAs to continue unchanged, many of which had years to run.
“A further serious concern is the competitive disadvantage this creates for business,” Mr Brown said.
“Callers to the Queensland Workplace Rights Office have been both confused and angered by this situation, which amounts to legally enforceable competitive unfairness.
“This applies across all Queensland businesses, however the problem seems to be far more acute in the competitive industries of Contract Security, Contract Cleaning, Labour Hire and like industries.”
Mr Brown said that as an example, pre the “fairness test” the Security Contracting Industry was regulated by either the State Award or by collective State Registered Certified Agreements.
“As at May 7 2007, the operational date for the ‘fairness test’, the industry is regulated by seven forms of regulation producing differing outcomes on wages and conditions, six of them the product of federal legislation which purportedly set out to simplify industrial relations in Australia”, he said.
Mr Brown said the “fairness test” itself was a cause of ongoing confusion.
“Parties to AWAs are confronted with a 42-page ‘fairness test implementation policy guide’ complete with three pages of diagrams which according many employers are difficult to follow”, he said.
“It is little wonder that thousands of Queenslanders including employers have used the service of the Queensland Workplace Rights Office and Ombudsman in the first four months of operation.
“It is even less wonder that many of these people call the Queensland Workplace Rights Hotline, even after having been provided with information from the federal Workplace Ombudsman and Authority.
“In fact some callers claim to have been referred to the Hotline from the federal authority”.
Mr Brown said the 6000 calls received involved unfair dismissal, recovery of wages, coercion, harassment and bullying, as well as legislative confusion.
“The Queensland Workplace Rights Office has undertaken more than 300 investigations since July”, he said.
The Queensland Workplace Rights Hotline can be contacted on 1300 737 841 or for more information visit www.workplacerights.qld.gov.au.
Ministerial contact: Chris Brown 3237 1944 or Nathan Moir 3235 4060
November 13, 2007
Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations John Mickel today tabled the report, which he said demonstrated clearly the problems being caused by the legislation.
“In just over four months Ombudsman Don Brown’s office has been bombarded with more than 6000 calls”, Mr Mickel said.
“A third of them have been from employers unable to fathom WorkChoices”.
Mr Mickel said the federal government’s decision to allow some Australian Workplace Agreements to operate without the “fairness test”, while post May 7 2007 AWAs were required to pass the “fairness test” was causing enormous confusion.
In his report Mr Brown said in the absence of retrospective application of the “fairness test” it followed that the federal legislation permitted unfair AWAs to continue unchanged, many of which had years to run.
“A further serious concern is the competitive disadvantage this creates for business,” Mr Brown said.
“Callers to the Queensland Workplace Rights Office have been both confused and angered by this situation, which amounts to legally enforceable competitive unfairness.
“This applies across all Queensland businesses, however the problem seems to be far more acute in the competitive industries of Contract Security, Contract Cleaning, Labour Hire and like industries.”
Mr Brown said that as an example, pre the “fairness test” the Security Contracting Industry was regulated by either the State Award or by collective State Registered Certified Agreements.
“As at May 7 2007, the operational date for the ‘fairness test’, the industry is regulated by seven forms of regulation producing differing outcomes on wages and conditions, six of them the product of federal legislation which purportedly set out to simplify industrial relations in Australia”, he said.
Mr Brown said the “fairness test” itself was a cause of ongoing confusion.
“Parties to AWAs are confronted with a 42-page ‘fairness test implementation policy guide’ complete with three pages of diagrams which according many employers are difficult to follow”, he said.
“It is little wonder that thousands of Queenslanders including employers have used the service of the Queensland Workplace Rights Office and Ombudsman in the first four months of operation.
“It is even less wonder that many of these people call the Queensland Workplace Rights Hotline, even after having been provided with information from the federal Workplace Ombudsman and Authority.
“In fact some callers claim to have been referred to the Hotline from the federal authority”.
Mr Brown said the 6000 calls received involved unfair dismissal, recovery of wages, coercion, harassment and bullying, as well as legislative confusion.
“The Queensland Workplace Rights Office has undertaken more than 300 investigations since July”, he said.
The Queensland Workplace Rights Hotline can be contacted on 1300 737 841 or for more information visit www.workplacerights.qld.gov.au.
Ministerial contact: Chris Brown 3237 1944 or Nathan Moir 3235 4060
November 13, 2007