Since attending the Jobs and Skills Summit held in September 2022, the Federal Government has introduced the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill into Parliament. This legislation will seek to amend the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) to implement workplace relations changes, which were the subject of election policy commitments, in key areas including:

bargaining and collective agreements;
gender equity;
job security; and
sexual harassment.

An Overview of the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill

Gender equity

prohibits employers from including pay secrecy terms in a contract of employment.
gives employees a workplace right to disclose and discuss information about their own remuneration and any employment conditions to any other person.
makes gender equity an objective of the FW Act.
establishes two new expert panels in the FWC to address the gender pay gap in the care and community sector.
expands the circumstances in which an employee may request a flexible work arrangement where they or a member of their household experiences family or domestic violence.
introduces a dispute resolution process to allow the FWC to arbitrate where an employer has refused an employee’s request for flexible work arrangement.
inserts breastfeeding, gender identity and intersex status as protected attributes in the anti-discrimination provisions of the FW Act.

Job security

amend the FW Act to make job security an object of the FW Act.
limit fixed-term contracts for the same role to two consecutive contracts or one with a maximum duration, including renewals, of 2 years. 

Sexual harassment

• amend the FW Act to prohibit sexual harassment in connection with work.
• create a new dispute resolution framework to deal with sexual harassment disputes.
• empowers the FWC to make stop sexual harassment orders to protect applicants from future harm.

Bargaining and collective agreements

• simplify the better off overall test (BOOT) in a number of ways.
• make multi-employer easier in government-funded sectors, such as those in the NDIS, aged-care and childcare sectors.
• enable a separate stream of multi-employer bargaining for other employers, with limited rights to take protected industrial action and greater access to FWC if bargaining delays or stalls.
• make it harder for a party to seek termination of an enterprise agreement that has passed its expiry date.
• confine the making of enterprise agreements to a ‘representative cohort’ of employees.

Miscellaneous

• abolish the Registered Organisations Commission and the Australian Building and Construction Commission.

What Do Employers Need to Do?

While no immediate action is required of employers, it's best to be prepared. Employers of any level of a business should keep an eye out over the coming months regarding these changes. By the new year, the impending changes may require a Company to reconsider its enterprise bargaining agreements, employment contracts and company policies.

Feeling Overwhelmed or Not Sure Where to Start?

Standard Candle HR can help you to remain compliant with Australian Industrial Relation and Employment Laws. We can assist you by redrafting your employment contracts and company policies to reflect the legislation changes and ensure you remain complaint with employment laws.

Click here to visit our website to explore more ways that we can help.