Fair Work Bill: Summary Continued - Page 4

It was expressed quite clearly that Forward with Fairness was to exclude statutory individual agreements and was to focus on collective bargaining. Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) were no longer available under the transitional legislation. AWAs that were already in place may survive until they are terminated or replaced.

Agreement making - transitional

The Individual Transitional Employment Agreement (ITEA) moved in to replace AWAs, but will only be available in limited circumstances. As to those limited circumstances, an employer will only be entitled to make an ITEA with an employee if, as at 1 December 2007, they employed at least one person under an AWA. However ITEAs may only be made with new employees (within 14 days of commencement); existing employees – but only in the event they had already been subject to an AWA; and those re-employed (again within 14 days of commencement) - but only in the event that the original employment did not end so that employment could be recommenced on an ITEA.

The Fairness Test that had previously underpinned both individual and collective agreements was replaced by a no-disadvantage test in the transitional legislation. In accordance with the new test, an agreement will be assessed against relevant ‘reference instruments’. Reference instruments vary slightly depending on whether the document being assessed is an ITEA or a collective agreement. An ITEA will be assessed against various types of relevant collective agreements or alternatively against relevant or designated Awards. Collective agreements will only be assessed against relevant or designated Awards (an Award may be designated in certain circumstances in cases where a relevant Award does not otherwise exist).

Continued - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - Archive Index