Archived News for Human Resource Professionals - March, 2012

Research conducted by the Australian Catholic University (ACU) and the University of Canberra (UC) has found the number of unfair dismissal claims taken by employees under Labor’s Fair Work Act has increased.

The New South Wales Government has announced intentions to cut spending to WorkCover after a PriceWaterhouseCoopers audit report found the agency was over $4 billion in deficit. The audit found that the agency had recorded a $1.7 billion blowout in its debt in the past six months.

Safe Work Australia has released a draft framework of the Australian Work Health and Safety Strategy 2012-2022 for an eight-week public comment period.

The Australian Industry Group (AI Group) has urged the Federal Government to move cautiously as it establishes a Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate to take over the work of the now defunct Australian Building and Construction Commission.

Canadian HR software giant Halogen has opened its first office in Sydney to meet growing demand for its services in the Asia Pacific market.

In September 2011, there were almost 6.0 million people, or a third (33%) of all Australians aged 15 years and over not in the labour force according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Over half (52%) of people not in the labour force were aged 60 years or over. Nearly two-thirds (60%) were women. 

Of the 900,000 people who were not in the labour force, who wanted work and were available to start within 4 weeks, there were 90,700 discouraged job seekers (52,300 men and 59,500 women). These are people who wanted to work and were also available to start work in the next four weeks, but were not actively looking for a job because they believed they would not find one. The number of discouraged job seekers decreased again in 2011, down from 102,000 in 2010 after a peak of 111,800 workers in 2009.

Discouraged job seekers reported that their main reason for giving up looking for work was that they were 'Considered too old by employers' (36%). This was followed by 'Lacked necessary skills, training or experience' (16%). Over half of discouraged job seekers (56%) were aged over 55 years; while a further 13% were aged under 24 years.

There were 247,600 women not in the labour force because they were caring for children who wanted to work but were not actively looking for work. They cited preferring to look after children and cost of child care as the main reasons for not looking for work.

The proportion of 25–34 year olds not in the labour force who are attending an educational institution has been rising steadily. In 2011, 19% (99,900) of 25–35 year olds reported 'Attending an educational institution' as their main activity when not in the labour force. This was up from 17% in 2009 and 14% in 2007.

The Federal Government has passed legislation that will abolish the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) through the Senate.

The Federal Government has passed the Road Safety Remuneration Bill through the House of Representatives, and it is expected to pass comfortably through the Senate with the support of the Greens.

The Federal Government has announced a $25 million fund to help local people fight joblessness and poverty.

The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) review of Commonwealth legislation and policies that create barriers for older people participating in the work force has begun.

The Australian Industry Group has applied to Fair Work Australia for changes to the Model Award Flexibility Clause - a term of all modern awards - which would allow individual award covered employees to agree with their employers on flexible leave arrangements including the cashing-out of annual leave.

Australian-born multinationals are investing more in holding onto their key people than foreign-owned firms in an effort to fight the brain drain, according to a new study.

The ACTU has announced it will launch one of the biggest test cases in recent years by applying to Fair Work Australia to establish a new, fairer safety net for apprentices. It maintains that apprentice wages need to be urgently lifted to give young people a pathway to a secure job and to ensure Australia continues to have a skilled workforce.

The Australian Industry Group has  released a supplementary submission to the Fair Work Act Review in response to the unions' proposed changes to the Act.

The Fair Work Ombudsman has released  new trainee wage calculators to help employers determine the rates of pay for trainees.

Recent research by the University of Sydney has found that many trade apprentices are living on a wage that falls below the poverty line, with many wages barely higher than the unemployment benefit.

Westpac has announced it will shed up to 126 jobs from its Australian operations, with the Financial Services Union  (FSU) claiming the bank plans to offshore the 119 technology roles and 7 collection roles.

Consult Australia has released results of a landmark benchmarking study into gender diversity within the engineering workforce, marking a critical first step by industry towards proactively overcoming the issue.

In September 2011, there were 11.6 million people employed in Australia. Of these people, 786,800 wanted to work more hours and were available, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The average number of extra hours preferred per week was 14.1 hours. 

The Productivity Commission has released its Default Superannuation Funds in Modern Awards inquiry issues paper, which intends to assist the public in preparing a submission to the Commission.