The Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) recently approved a consent arrangement between unions and employers paving the way for the adoption of federal awards to cover more than 350,000 Victorian workers from 1 January next year
The Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) recently approved a consent arrangement between unions and employers paving the way for the adoption of federal awards to cover more than 350,000 Victorian workers from 1 January next year. The decision will effectively mean that once a federal award is declared by the Commission to be a common rule in Victoria, all the employees and their employers in the industry covered by the award are automatically bound by it. Currently, Victorian award workers are covered for a minimum of conditions such as annual, sick and parental leave, however under the federal system they will receive other benefits such as access to penalty rates and overtime.
Email the weapon of choice in office power battles
Email is fast becoming a key political weapon in office power struggles, a Monash University research study has found. It revealed an increasing use of email to gain or maintain power, in which office workers complained of colleagues in the same room emailing each other to ask questions or raise concerns, rather than speaking face-to-face. Complaints were also made about workers storing emails that showed the sender in a bad light as future ammunition against them, managers sending group emails blaming subordinates for mishaps without allowing them to present their defence to the whole group, and workers sending group emails to brag about their achievements.
Industrial manslaughter penalties increased
Negligent employers will face increased maximum criminal penalties for workplace deaths, with the recent passing of amending OHS legislation by federal parliament. The amendments will increase the maximum criminal penalty from the current $100,000 to $495,000, for instances where a workplace death or serious bodily harm resulted from an employer’s negligence or recklessness. Dual civil and criminal penalty regimes for OHS breaches will now operate under the legislation, with all Commonwealth employers liable to the full range of civil penalties and remedies.
Governments join companies in outsourcing HR: US
National and state governments in the US are rapidly joining the private sector in outsourcing key human resources and other functions, according to a recent Conference Board report. It found that the outsourcing movement is taking hold in governments and government agencies, with the three major drivers being cost savings, reducing capital spending and transforming fixed costs into variable ones. But the study noted that governments must carefully weigh negative consequences, such as job losses, skills transfers, unemployment costs and the disruption of local services against the promised benefits. HR processes and services that outsourcers provide to government organisations include payroll and benefits processing, HR process redesign, service delivery strategy and performance benchmarking.
