Workplace News

We have been advised by WorkCover NSW that the NSW Bill to adopt the model Work Health and Safety Act will be introduced into the NSW Parliament by the end of September.

There is to be no public consultation on the Bill. According to WorkCover, the public consultation on the Model Act was sufficient. This is despite the many jurisdictional notes in the Model Act, enabling each jurisdiction to make their own arrangements for many of its provisions.

Employers have to give new employees a Fair Work Information Statement as soon as practicable after they start work. The statement was recently updated to include the amount of the high income threshold, which is the cut off point for an employee to be covered by a modern award.

The old version of the statement didn't set out the actual dollar amount, which is currently $113 800 per annum and is indexed annually on 1 July.

Working mothers will receive 18 weeks paid parental leave from 1 January 2011.

The Act creating the scheme received assent on 14 July 2010 after first being introduced to the Parliament in May 2010.

The federal government Family Assistance Office will make the payments for the first six months with employers to administer payment from 1 July 2011. Eligible working women will be paid $10 258.20 or $569.90 per week in instalments. Employers won’t be required to pay an instalment until the Family Assistance Office has forwarded them the funds.

Fair Work Australia has increased the minimum weekly wage by $26.00. The increase starts on 1 July and takes effect from the first full pay period that starts on or after that date.

For award and agreement free employees the national minimum wage for an adult is currently set at $543.00. After the increase, this will rise to $569.90 per week, which is an hourly rate of $15.00.

The hourly rate has been calculated on the basis of a 38 hour week for a full-time employee.

AFEI has called for restraint in the first of Fair Work Australia’s annual wage reviews for 2009–10. In our submission to FWA we have proposed a rise of no more than $12.50 per week based on the impact of these four main issues: