Labour Standards under the Fair Work Act

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2011:

This subject covers federal statutory regulation of minimum working conditions in Australia. It addresses the relevant provisions of the key federal statute, the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth).

Principal topics will include:

• The way that the Australian Constitution shapes the legal mechanisms used to regulate labour standards and working conditions, including the historical origins and purposes of conciliation and arbitration and the scope of the new national system based on the corporations power and the referral power
• The institutions that regulate labour standards and working conditions, including Fair Work Australia and the Fair Work Ombudsman
• The role and content of the National Employment Standards (NES) as a means of maintaining a safety net of fair working conditions
• The form, function and content of Modern Awards as a mechanism for setting further minimum labour standards at an industry and sectoral level
• The relationship of Modern Awards and the NES to other means of regulating working conditions, including the contract of employment and enterprise agreements
• The enforcement of minimum labour standards and working conditions by employees and the Fair Work Ombudsman, and protection of entitlements in the case of business restructuring
• Emerging issues and innovative approaches in regulating labour standards and working conditions, including protection of vulnerable workers such as casual and part-time workers and outworkers, and regulation of work–life balance.

A student who has successfully completed this subject should understand:

• The historical origins of the federal system of labour regulation in Australia, in particular, conciliation and arbitration as a means of setting minimum labour standards
• The constitutional parameters of labour regulation in Australia and the shift to a national system
• The different mechanisms of setting and maintaining minimum labour standards under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), and how to evaluate these mechanisms using historical, practical and theoretical perspectives; in particular, regulation theory
• Emerging issues in the setting and effective enforcement of labour standards and working conditions
• The development of Australian labour standard-setting and enforcement in an international context.

Visit the Melbourne Law Masters website for more information about this subject.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.