The Government has released the final draft of the new minimum employment conditions that will cover the majority of employees around the country. Legislation will be drafted and introduced later this year to reflect these standards.
The 10 National Employment Standards (NES) to take effect from 1 January 2010, will become the new minimum safety net for employees of businesses that operate under federal Industrial Relations laws.
It is important that each employer starts planning before the end of 2009 to understand how they will be affected and the impact this will have on their business.
The NES will cover the following areas:
1. Standard 38-hour working week
A full time employee's hours of work in a week must not exceed 38 hours week plus "reasonable additional hours" each week. An employee may refuse to work additional hours if they are unreasonable.
2. Request for flexible work arrangements
Employees have been given the right to request flexible working arrangements from their employer, with employers given the right to refuse such a request on reasonable business grounds.
Only employees that have worked continuously in a job for 12 months are able to make such a request under the new NES.
3. Parental leave
An employee who takes unpaid parental leave may apply for a further period of up to 12 months unpaid leave immediately following the end of the first parental leave period. The employer must agree to the extension unless there are reasonable business grounds for refusing.
4. Annual leave
For each year of service an employee is entitled to four weeks of paid annual leave or, if a modern award applies to the employee and defines the employee as a shift worker, he/she is entitled to five weeks of paid annual leave. The entitlement to paid annual leave accrues progressively during a year of service. Annual leave cannot be cashed out, unless an applicable modern award authorises it.
5. Personal/carer's leave and compassionate leave
This standard retains the existing entitlement to 10 days personal/carer's leave and two days compassionate leave.
6. Community service leave
An employee who engages in an eligible community service activity is entitled to be absent from employment for the time engaged in the activity plus reasonable travelling and rest time.
Eligible community service activities include jury service and voluntary emergency management activity (eg. SES). Unless the activity is jury service the employee will also have to prove that his/her absence is reasonable in all of the circumstances, before the leave is approved.
7. Long service leave
This NES essentially just preserves long service leave entitlements under existing awards, but leaves open the prospect of wider extension of LSL entitlements if employers and employees seek to do so.
8. Public holidays
This NES enshrines the standard of public holidays. Employees are entitled to be absent from employment on a public holiday and can only be requested to work on a public holiday if it is reasonable.
9. Notice of termination and redundancy pay
This standard establishes a requirement that employees receive minimum periods of notice in accordance with the table that has existed in the Workplace Relations Act for many years. In addition, employees who are made redundant will be entitled to severance pay in accordance with the standard established in 2004.
For employers with fewer than 15 employees, no redundancy pay entitlement will arise. For the purpose of calculating the number of employees, casual employees will be counted where they have been engaged on a regular and systematic basis for 12 months.
10. Fair Work information statement
Employers will have to provide fair work information statements to all employees