Regulating Working Conditions

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2008:

It is recommended that candidates without a law degree from a common law jurisdiction should have completed 'Regulating Individual Work Relationships'.

Objectives:

A candidate who has successfully completed the subject should:

• Have an understanding of the historical origins and continuing importance of the Federal system of conciliation and arbitration as a means of setting minimum working conditions
• Be able to apply, at an advanced level, relevant legal principles to problem-solving exercises
• Understand the different means of setting and maintaining minimum working conditions, and be able to evaluate them using historical, practical and theoretical perspectives, in particular using elements of regulation theory
• Have sound knowledge of emerging issues in working conditions and how they might best be regulated
• Demonstrate an understanding of the development of Australian labour relations law in an international context.

Syllabus:

Principal topics will include:

• The way that the Australian Constitution shapes the legal mechanisms that are used to regulate working conditions, including the historical origins and purposes of conciliation and arbitration and the scope of the corporations power
• The institutions that regulate working conditions, including the Fair Pay Commission, the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, the Office of the Employment Advocate and the Office of Workplace Services
• The form, function and content of awards of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission
• The role of awards and the Australian Fair Pay Standard as means of maintaining a safety net of fair working conditions
• The relationship of awards and the Australian Fair Pay Standard to other means of regulating working conditions, including the contract of employment and legislative standards
• Recent developments in setting new minimum working conditions
• The maintenance of minimum conditions in the case of business restructuring and through enforcement
• The Victorian system for maintaining fair basic working conditions
• Emerging issues in regulating working conditions, including employee entitlements, the rights of casual and part-time workers, and regulating the work-life balance.

• Take-home examination (100%) (11-15 September)
  or
• Research paper 10,000 words (100%) (9 October) (topic approved by the subject coordinator)

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

Objectives:

A candidate who has successfully completed the subject should:

• Have an understanding of the historical origins and continuing importance of the Federal system of conciliation and arbitration as a means of setting minimum working conditions
• Be able to apply, at an advanced level, relevant legal principles to problem-solving exercises
• Understand the different means of setting and maintaining minimum working conditions, and be able to evaluate them using historical, practical and theoretical perspectives, in particular using elements of regulation theory
• Have sound knowledge of emerging issues in working conditions and how they might best be regulated
• Demonstrate an understanding of the development of Australian labour relations law in an international context.

Syllabus:

Principal topics will include:

• The way that the Australian Constitution shapes the legal mechanisms that are used to regulate working conditions, including the historical origins and purposes of conciliation and arbitration and the scope of the corporations power
• The institutions that regulate working conditions, including the Fair Pay Commission, the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, the Office of the Employment Advocate and the Office of Workplace Services
• The form, function and content of awards of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission
• The role of awards and the Australian Fair Pay Standard as means of maintaining a safety net of fair working conditions
• The relationship of awards and the Australian Fair Pay Standard to other means of regulating working conditions, including the contract of employment and legislative standards
• Recent developments in setting new minimum working conditions
• The maintenance of minimum conditions in the case of business restructuring and through enforcement
• The Victorian system for maintaining fair basic working conditions
• Emerging issues in regulating working conditions, including employee entitlements, the rights of casual and part-time workers, and regulating the work-life balance.

• Take-home examination (100%) (11-15 September)
  or
• Research paper 10,000 words (100%) (9 October) (topic approved by the subject coordinator)

It is recommended that candidates without a law degree from a common law jurisdiction should have completed 'Regulating Individual Work Relationships'.