Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia's Jobs and Economic Recovery) Act 2021
| Fair Work Amendment Act 2021 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Parliament of Australia | |
| |
| Citation | No. 25 of 2021 |
| Territorial extent | States and territories of Australia |
| Enacted by | Australian House of Representatives |
| Assented to | 26 March 2021 |
| Commenced | 27 March 2021 |
| Legislative history | |
| Bill title | Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Bill 2020 |
| Introduced | 11 December 2020 |
| First reading | 9 December 2020 |
| Second reading | 16 March 2021 |
| Status: In force | |
The Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Act 2021 (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia, which brought about considerable amendments to the Fair Work Act 2009. Prior to its passing, the legislation was considered to be the most significant industrial relations reform since the original Act's passage. It was also first reform of industrial relations passed by a Coalition government since the Workchoices legislation of the Howard Government.[1]
The Act
[edit]Defining casual employment
[edit]The Act's most significant reform was the defining of casual employment,[2] confirming that casual employment will exist if:
- Employment was offered on the basis an employer made no firm advance commitment to continuing and indefinite work according to an agreed pattern of work,
- The employee accepts the offer of employment on that basis, and
- The employment is as a result of that acceptance.
Casual conversion
[edit]The Act provides for landmark reform to casual conversion, requiring the offer of casual employment generally to be made to an employee working for 12 months or more with the last six months working a regular pattern of hours which could be worked as permanent.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ "Changes to Casual Employment: New Definition (2021) | G+T". www.gtlaw.com.au. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
- ^ "Coalition proposes retrospectively stripping misclassified casuals of up to $39bn in claims | Industrial relations | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com. Retrieved 2022-11-26.
- ^ Hannan, Peter (18 November 2021). "Australia's universities converting as little as 1% of casual staff to permanent despite labour law change | Australian universities | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com. Retrieved 2022-11-26.