The COVID-19 pandemic created various challenges for Australian workplaces in 2020. The Federal Government has introduced the Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Bill 2020 (‘the Bill’) to address some of the challenges in 2021. Enterprise bargaining is one of the key focus areas of the Bill, which seeks to amend the process of enterprise bargaining. The government intend to make it easier for businesses and employees to access the benefits of bargaining by improving the BOOT (Better Off Overall Test) and by speeding up the FWC’s approval of benefit agreements, establishing a timeframe of 21 days. The Bill also seeks to ensure greater certainty to businesses and individuals as to how they can meet agreement requirements and ensure proper employee representation.
According to the federal government, the aim of the reforms is to improve fairness and balance the interests of businesses and employees. Contact Morgan + English for further information about enterprise bargaining and the Fair Work Act reforms.
