Work and the Law

This subject is not offered in 2016.

120 hours.

None.

This is a Level 3 subject but students may complete it in their second year of studies if they have satisfied the necessary prerequisites. The subject level is an indicator as to the difficulty of the subject and expected workload.

For the purposes of considering requests for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills, and Assessment Requirements of this entry.

The University is dedicated to providing support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/.

This subject will focus on examining work as a subject for regulation, predominantly in Australia, but also with reference to overseas examples.

Principal topics will include:

• Key concepts about work (including paid work, voluntary work, employment, independent contracting and dependent labour);
• Reasons for regulating work (such as efficiency and equity);
• Legal approaches to regulating work (the common law vs statutory regulation);
• The contract of employment;
• Employment standards;
• Collective work regulation (unions, enterprise agreements and industrial action);
• The law and precarious work;
• The law and senior managers;
• Enforcing the law of work;
• Australia's work law in international context.

By the end of this subject, students should have acquired:

• Knowledge of the different forms of work in our society, and the different approaches to regulating them;
• An ability to evaluate and synthesise the literature relating to the regulation of work, particularly from legal, economic and political perspectives;
• An understanding of the debates around how best to govern work relations, including arguments about the role of the market, contract, state standards and unions;
• An appreciation of how the Australian approaches to regulating work compare to, and are affected by, approaches in other countries and internationally;
• An understanding of how work regulation affects different categories of workers, such as senior managers, 'regular' employees and vulnerable workers; and
• An ability to engage in debate around issues of public interest in law and work.

• 2,000 word essay on one of several questions set by the subject coordinator (due in accordance with the assessment schedule) (30%);
• Two-hour open-book examination (70%).

• Andrew Stewart, Stewart's Guide To Employment Law (Federation Press, 2013, 4th edition);
• Materials will be available online;
• Fair Work Act 2009 (available online) (key provisions will be included in the specialist printed materials).

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

• Bachelor of Arts
• Bachelor of Biomedicine
• Bachelor of Commerce
• Bachelor of Environments
• Bachelor of Music
• Bachelor of Science

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

On completion of the subject the student should have:

• Capacity for self-directed learning, specifically the ability to plan work and use time effectively;
• Cognitive and analytical skills;
• Ability to speak about complex ideas in a clear and cogent manner;
• An awareness of diversity and plurality;
• Write essays which develop structured argumentation;
• Capacity to judge the worth of their own arguments.