Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Workplace Relations Act 1996

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Date commenced
  
1 January 1997

Introduced by
  
Howard Government

Workplace Relations Act 1996

The Workplace Relations Act 1996 was an Australian labour law passed by the Howard Government after it came into power in 1996. It replaced the previous Labor Government's Industrial Relations Act 1988, starting operation on 1 January 1997. The Act was substantially amended by the Workplace Relations Amendment Act 2005, that came into effect on 27 March 2006, which brought in the WorkChoices changes to Australia's labour law. The Act was repealed by the Fair Work Act 2009 passed by the Rudd Labor Government.

Contents

Provisions

The 1996 Act provided for the continuation of the federal award system which provided a minimum set of terms and conditions for employment. It kept the previous Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC), which continued to determine federal awards but whose determinations were restricted to just 20 "allowable award matters", namely:

  • classification of employees
  • hours of work
  • rates of pay
  • piece rates, tallies and bonuses
  • various forms of leave (e.g. annual and long service leave)
  • public holidays
  • allowances
  • penalty rates
  • redundancy pay
  • notice of termination
  • dispute settling procedures
  • stand down provisions
  • jury service
  • pay and conditions

    • Some of its provisions upon first being enacted included:

  • the introduction of Australian Workplace Agreements, a form of individual contract which can override collective agreements;
  • expansion of the use of enterprise bargaining agreements;
  • a reduction of the allowable matters in federal awards to 20;
  • restrictions on union activity; and
  • outlawing closed shops.

    • History

    The Workplace Relations Regulations 2006 repealed and replaced the Workplace Relations Regulations 1996 to accommodate the WorkChoices amendments to the Workplace Relations Act 1996 introduced on 27 March 2006. This ensued because, in 2005, the Howard government, in response to a growing number of disgruntled employers, announced the reform of unfair dismissal regulation as the focal point for changes to the Workplace Protection Act of 1996.

    The Act was repealed by the Fair Work Act 2009 passed by the Rudd Labor Government.

    References

    Workplace Relations Act 1996 Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA