New Sexual Harassment Laws

The changes to the Fair Work Act (2009) under the Secure Jobs, Better Pay legislation in relation to sexual harassment have come into operation effective 6 March 2023.

Under the changes, the Fair Work Act (2009) has been updated to ban sexual harassment in connection with work for all workers – this includes employees, contractors, work experience students and volunteers.

A person or company can be held liable for sexual harassment conducted by a worker unless they can demonstrate all reasonable steps were taken to prevent the sexual harassment. This may include (but isn’t limited to):

• Having a clear sexual harassment policy in place
• Having a mechanism/process in place for workers to report incidents of sexual harassment
• Investigating all complaints in a fair, timely and impartial manner and taking appropriate action
• Providing information, instruction, training and support about the importance of preventing and addressing sexual harassment in the workplace

Workers (or a union/industrial association on behalf of a worker) can now make a complaint to the Fair Work Commission regarding sexual harassment. The commission can deal with the complaint via mediation, conciliation or arbitration if agreed to by both parties. This complaint process is in addition to the existing complaint mechanisms already in place via the Australian Human Rights Commission or state/territory anti-discrimination agency. Some forms of sexual harassment may be criminal acts that the employee can report directly to the police.

Employers should take appropriate steps to ensure they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Liquid HR has a partnership with Sentrient for clients to access over 30 online compliance training modules (including sexual harassment) at a discounted rate. For further information get in touch with us via enquiries@liquidhr.com.au

Student visa work hour restrictions come back into operation 1 July 2023

Employees engaged on a student visa will be subject to limitations on the number of hours they can work each fortnight effective 1 July 2023. During the peak of the Covid pandemic, the Australian Government removed the work hour restrictions to help address staff shortages.

From 1 July 2023 employees engaged under a student visa will be able to work a maximum of 48 hours per fortnight.

Major Award Changes

There have been two significant rulings recently in relation to a number of modern awards as outlined below:

1. The full bench of the Fair Work Commission has announced a 15% increase to some workers covered by the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award (SCHADS), Aged Care and Nurses Awards. These increases will be effective 30 June 2023.
2. Shutdown provisions have been updated in 78 modern awards, amending the rules of how and when an employee can shut down their business (e.g. commonly over the Christmas/New Year break). Employers must give affected employees 28 days’ written notice of a temporary shutdown period. Employees may be directed in writing to take a period of paid annual leave if the employee has an accrued annual leave entitlement and the direction is reasonable. If an employee does not have enough accrued annual leave to cover the shutdown period, they may agree to take leave without pay or annual leave in advance. The significant change is that employees can no longer be required to take leave without pay if they do not have enough annual leave to cover the period of the shutdown.

The new provisions will commence on 1 May 2023.

It is highly recommended that you register for updates via the Fair Work Commission for any changes to the modern award/s that are applicable at your workplace. You can do so by visiting https://www.fwc.gov.au/subscriptions

Inflation and increasing pressure to review wage rates – what are employers doing to retain employees?

A brief insight into the current state of the Australian economy

As of March 2023

• Economic growth is up 2.7%
• Inflation is at 7.8%
• Unemployment rate is at 3.7%
• Wage growth is 3.3%
• Average weekly earnings are $1378.60.

Source: Reserve Bank of Australia

According to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s February 2023 statement on Monetary Policy Economic Outlook:

• Global growth is forecast to remain well below its historical average over the next two years.
• Real incomes have declined as the cost of living has escalated, in part due to Europe’s energy crisis.
• Economic growth in Australia is forecast to slow this year as rising interest rates, the higher cost of living and declining real wealth weigh on growth
• The labour market is very tight; the recent pick-up in net arrivals following the reopening of the international border has supported robust growth in employment and is helping to alleviate shortages in some areas. The unemployment rate is forecast to remain around 3.5 per cent until mid-2023, before rising as growth in output slows.

See here for a full analysis.

The National Minimum wage and Award wage rates

The National Minimum wage is currently $812.60 per week. The last increase to modern award wage rates came into operation on 1 July 2022, seeing an increase of 4.6%. The Fair Work Commission has commenced proceedings to review wage rates under all modern awards, with any increases expected to occur from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2023.

Superannuation

The Superannuation Guarantee is currently at 10.5%, this will increase to 11% effective 1 July 2023.

The current labour market

An increased demand for labour and talent has seen some industries paying significantly higher salaries than they had previously budgeted. This has resulted in organisations looking strategically at their broader remuneration approach, to ask themselves “How can we maintain future wage growth in line with our budgeted forecast, whilst retaining talent?”

This has seen some employers:

• Offer one off retention/bonus payments to employees to reflect the inflationary pressures they are facing.
• Looking for alternate strategies to retain employees e.g. 4 day work week (at the same rate of pay as a 5 day employee; providing an additional weeks annual leave, implementing permanent hybrid working arrangements providing additional flexibility and reducing the transport costs faced by employees to attend the workplace, implementing bonus programs linked to the achievement of KPI’s – i.e. a share in the success of the business.
• Reviewing salaries on a more regular basis (every 6 months instead of the traditional annual review) to ensure existing employee salaries are keeping up with external market rates.
• Consulting with employees to understand what is important to them in the workplace and building custom benefit programs (what may be seen as valuable to one employee could differ from the next)
• Focusing on building a culture cantered on trust and a genuine recognition of the contribution individual employees make to the business. As the saying goes “someone who feels appreciated will always do more than expected”

As with any business challenge, now is the time for employers leading from the front to think strategically about their remuneration and benefits strategy and ask themselves “are we doing everything we can to retain key talent in our business?”

For more information on the above, please contact us on 1300 887 458 and speak with one  of our HR Consultants. If you are interested in learning more about our HR services, including HR Outsourcing, HR Consulting, HR Advisory Services, contact us at enquiries@liquidhr.com.au.