WITH THE Federal Government’s WorkChoices laws coming into effect in late March, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) recently cautioned employers that federal and state equal opportunity laws still prohibit employers from dismissing people based on race, sex, disability and age discrimination.
WITH THE Federal Government’s WorkChoices laws coming into effect in late March, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) cautioned employers that federal and state equal opportunity laws still prohibit employers from dismissing people based on race, sex, disability and age discrimination.
With the introduction of the reforms, companies with fewer than 100 employees are exempt from unfair dismissal laws.
However, all businesses, regardless of their size, must still adhere to equal opportunity laws and affected employees (including casuals, contract workers, part-time and/or full-time) can still use unlawful termination legislation and make a complaint to HREOC.
The Commission also said it was prepared for any potential increase in complaints received under its laws.
The ACTU said companies with more than 100 staff are also being advised that they can now also sack staff unfairly as long as they claim the sacking is for “operational reasons”.
“These laws will give big business enormous new powers to fire workers at will. What this means is that no worker is safe from the impact of the Government's new unfair dismissal laws,” said ACTU secretary Greg Combet.
It doesn’t matter if you work in a small business, a medium sized business or a billion dollar company with tens of thousands of staff – under the Government’s new laws you will be able to be unfairly sacked and your job security is going to be eroded.”
Minna Knight, senior workplace relations adviser for Australian Business Limited, said despite the union fear campaign, WorkChoices provide for entitlements that are far more generous than many existing awards.
“While this will be a cost to employers, it will be more than offset from the shared benefits of improved agreement making and flexibility,” she said.
There were also concerns that penalties for employers under the new laws were too harsh, she said.
“The understanding of WorkChoices by employers is low and in such an environment we do have concerns about employers facing potential fines of $33,000 for failing to comply with the new minimum standards,” she said.
