The role of Fair Work Commission in the making and approving agreements
Introduction
The Fair Work Commission is the independent body which is having the powers to engage in various kinds of functions which include the provision of safety conditions and minimum wages. On the same note, it is charged with the responsibility of facilitating good faith bargaining, as well as in making enterprise agreements. Fair Work Ombudsman ensures that Fair Work Act is complied with together with the related legislation, awards, as well as registered agreements. It also helps the employers, as well as the employees through the provision of education and advice on pay rates, as well as on workplace conditions. There are several other functions which they serve. These include the provision of a highly reliable, as well as a timely information regarding the workplace relations system in Australia.
Other roles include: educating individuals regarding fair work practices, rights, as well as obligations; resolving workplace issues through the promotion, as well as through the effective monitoring of compliance with suspected breaches of laws in the workplace; enforcing workplace laws, as well as seeking penalties for the breaches of the workplace laws and enforcing some orders which are made by Fair Work Commission (Cooper & Ellem, 2009; Hannan, 2012).
Body: The role of the commission in the making and approval of agreements
The Commission is involved in the making of enterprise agreements. Enterprise agreements refer to the collective agreements which are made at the enterprise level between the employee and the employers regarding the terms, as well as the conditions of employment. It is worth pointing out that the Fair Work Commission always provide information regarding the process of making the enterprise agreements. At the same time, it always evaluates and approves the agreements. The Commission also deals with the various kinds of disputes which take place regarding the agreement terms (Roy & Andrew, 2000).
Enterprise agreements refer to the agreements between employers and employees or their representatives. The commission stipulates what is deemed as an enterprise agreement. Modern awards are covering an entire occupation or industry and offer a safety net of minimum pay rates, as well as the employment conditions. It is worth pointing out that enterprise agreements may be tailored in such a way as to meet the various kinds of needs of a given enterprise (Ellem, Baird, Cooper & Lansbury, 2005).
The commission, which stipulates what the enterprise agreement includes states that the enterprise agreements always entails a wide array of matters like the rates of pay of the employees in the workplace, the conditions of employment, like the working hours, the meal breaks, as well as overtime. It also stipulates the consultative mechanisms; the procedures that can be employed in the resolution of disputes. It is also worth pointing out that the commission is charged with the responsibility of approving the agreements. This is to ensure that they have lawful contents. Some of the main types of enterprise agreements include single-enterprise agreements, which involves one employer or more employers co-operating in what is one enterprise; multi-enterprise agreements, which involves two or more employers which are having different interests (Forsyth & Sutherland, 2006).
The Fair Work Commission also stipulates the terms which the enterprise agreement has to include. Enterprise agreement entails various terms concerning the employee-employer relationship that the agreement is covering; terms about employer-employee relationship and trade union that the agreement covers. At the same time, the commission is also charged with the responsibility of determining the manner in which the agreement will be operating (Bray, Waring & Cooper, 2011).
The commission also guides the contents of the agreements between the employers and the employees. According to the commission, an enterprise agreement has to contain some terms including the nominal expiry date of the given agreement that is no longer than four years from the agreement’s approval of date. The commission also stipulates that there should be a procedure that should be used in settling any dispute which may arise. At the same time, the Commission points out that there ought to be a consultation term that needs employers to consult the employees concerning any major changes in the workplace which are likely to have a huge impact on them and enables employees to have representation in the consultation (Stewart, 2009).
The commission also stipulates the various elements which have to be included in the agreement and what should not be included in the agreement. Some of the main things which should not be included in the agreement include: terms which are discriminatory, terms which are objectionable, Terms that confers a remedy or entitlement concerning unfair dismissal before the completion of the employment period by the employee; terms that are not in line with the provisions of industrial action; and terms that provides for entitlement to right of entry (Cooper & Ellem, 2009). Additionally, it is worth pointing out that Fair Work Commission also offers information regarding the various ways of making an enterprise agreement; the people who are capable of making an enterprise agreement, the element of the enterprise agreement as well as some of the benefits that can be brought about by having in place an enterprise agreement (Waring & Bray, 2006; Balnave, Brown, Maconachie & Stone, 2009).
The Fair Work Commission also approves the agreements. It should be noted that when the bargaining has been completed, and the proposed agreement has been made, there are some steps which have to be taken to ensure that the agreement is approved by Fair Work Commission. The commission always provides information regarding the various steps that the employers should take. For instance, employers should provide explanations of the content of the agreement to the employees in the right way (Waring & Bray, 2006; Teicher, Holland & Gough, 2006; Balnave, Brown, Maconachie & Stone, 2009).
Before Fair work commission can approve the agreements, the employers much make sure that the employees are given notice about the agreement. They should also be allowed to vote so as to approve the agreements. After the employees have been provided with information regarding the agreements, they have to be given about 21 days before the voting can take place (Sappey, Burgess, Lyons & Buultjens, 2009). The employer should make sure that the employees are provided with the documents containing the agreement so that they can go through it very well before they can be allowed to vote for it. Before the voting is done, the employers must make sure that the employees are aware of the dates at which voting will take place, the venue of the voting should also be provided and besides, the method that the organization will use in the administration of the voting process should also be provided by the employer (Watson, Buchanan, Campbell & Briggs, 2003). This is to make sure that the employees are adequately prepared to vote.
For the agreements to be approved, the agreement content should incorporate the matters that pertains to the relationship between the employees to be covered by the agreement and the employer. The matters which pertains to the relationship between and any employee organization and the employer should also be contained in the agreement. At the same time, deductions from wages for any purpose that is authorized by the employee should be covered by the agreement. The agreement should also stipulate the manner in which it will be operating. The agreements cannot be approved if they include any unlawful content (Isaac & Lansbury, 2005).
According to Watson, Buchanan, Campbell & Briggs (2003); Sappey, Burgess, Lyons & Buultjens (2009) and Balnave, Brown, Maconachie & Stone (2009), when making applications to the commission regarding approval, there are some things which have to be done. After the making of the enterprise agreement, a bargaining representative for the given agreement has to apply to the Commission to get an approval of the agreement through the use of form F16. The application has to be lodged with the Commission within 14 days after the making of the agreement. The application has to be accompanied by some documents which include the signed copy of the agreement and any declarations which are needed by Fair Work Commission Rules 2013 (Fox, Howard & Pittard, 1995).
When the applications have been completed, they can be lodged through the use of the facsimile, email, express post or in person at the offices of the commission. It can also be submitted electronically via the commission’s online submission page. For the agreement to be approved by the commission, there are some things which have to be taken into consideration. The commission must get a satisfaction that: the phases of pre-approval have been done well by the employers; the employees are in support of the agreement; the given agreement has passed every test and that the given agreement does not have terms which exclude or that which might exclude the provisions of NES or NES. On the same note, unlawful terms should not find themselves in the agreements as this may make it not to be approved by the Commission (Ellem, Baird, Cooper & Lansbury, 2005). Besides, the commission must effectively evaluate if employees who are covered by the given agreement were fairly chosen and if the agreement has in place measures that can be employed in order to settle any dispute that may arise. When all these have been assessed, the agreement is always approved by the commission.
Conclusion
The report has covered the role of Fair Work Commission in the making and approval of agreements. As the paper explores, the work of Fair work commission pertaining to the making of agre.ements include: ensuring that no kind of discriminatory term is used, making sure that terms which are objectionable are not used; not using terms that confers a remedy and also not using terms that are not consistent with the provisions of industrial action. Besides, the paper also concludes that before Fair work commission can approve the agreements, voting and approval of the employees is required. They also need to be given notice concerning the voting time. The employees are working in the organization during the time at which the agreement is being passed always involved in approving the agreement. Voting cannot take place until after three weeks after the notice was given to the employees. The other conclusion being made by the paper is that employers should also make sure that the employees can easily access the details of the agreements for at least seven days. The employees have to be notified of the date of the voting for the agreements, the venue where voting is to take place, and the methods through which the voting will take place.
References
Hannan, E. (2012). All sides approve of Fair Work appointees. The Australian. Retrieved on April
4, 2017.
Roy, G., & Andrew, W. (2000). Unemployment, labor market deregulation and the “Third Way.”
International Journal of Manpower, 21 (5), 424 – 440.
Ellem, B., Baird, M., Cooper, R., & Lansbury, R. (2005). ‘Work Choices’: Mythmaking at work.
Journal of Australian Political Economy 56 (9), 13–31.
Forsyth, A. & Sutherland, C. (2006). Collective labor relations under siege: The Work Choices
legislation and collective bargaining. Australian Journal of Labour Law 19(2): 183–97.
Bray, M, Waring, P & Cooper, R. (2011). Employment relations: theory and practice. McGraw-
Hill, N. Ryde.
Stewart, A. (2009). A Question of Balance: Labour’s New Vision for Workplace Regulation.
Australian Journal of Labour Law 22(1):pp.3-50
Cooper, R & Ellem, B. (2009). ‘Fair Work and the Re-regulation of Collective Bargaining’
Australian Journal of Labour Law vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 284-305.
Waring, P. & Bray, M. (2006). Evolving Employment Relations: Industry Profiles from Australia,
McGraw-Hill, North Ryde.
Teicher, J., Holland, P. & Gough, R. (2006). Employee Relations Management. Frenchs Forest,
NSW, Pearson.
Balnave, N., Brown, J., Maconachie, G. & Stone, R. (2009). Employment Relations in Australia,
2nd ed. John Wiley and Sons, Queensland.
Sappey, R., Burgess, J., Lyons, M.& Buultjens, J. (2009). Industrial Relations in Australia, 2nd
The end, Pearson, Frenchs Forest.
Watson, I., Buchanan, J., Campbell, I. & Briggs, C. (2003). Fragmented Futures: New
Challenges in Working Life. Sydney: Federation Press.
Isaac, J. & Lansbury, R. (2005). Labour Market Deregulation: Rewriting the Rules. Sydney:
Federation Press.
Fox, C., Howard, W. & Pittard, M. (1995). Industrial Relations in Australia: Melbourne:
Longman.