Please note, this is a script from Episode Two of our video series, Employment Law: What to look out for in 2023, which you can access here.
Welcome to the second instalment in our series of What to look out for in Employment Law in 2023. Today, we're going to be talking about Fair Pay Agreements.
As you'll recall, the Fair Pay Agreements Act came into force on the 1st of December 2022. The idea of this is to provide a framework whereby employers and employees can bargain collectively for terms and conditions across a whole industry or occupation nationwide. Those agreed terms would apply to everyone regardless of whether they were involved in the bargaining or not. The process is likely to be pretty drawn out - issues around bargaining side representation and ratification is likely to be a minefield.
The Fair Pay Agreement process is pretty complex and there's a lot of technical detail involved. We're not proposing to go into all of that detail today, but what we would say is it is important to know enough about the Fair Pay Agreements and the process involved so that you know whether it's relevant for you.
There are a number of things that must be included in any Fair Pay Agreement:
Wages - penalty rate; overtime rate
Leave entitlements
Training and development arrangements
Date of expiry - between three and five years
There are also a number of topics that must be discussed between the parties but don't have to be included in Fair Pay Agreements. Those are:...
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