Employment Law in Australia: Fair Work Act and Workers' Rights

Employment Law in Australia
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In Australia, the main law on the regulation of workers' rights is the Fair Work Act
2009 (FWA). The FWA provides the minimum standard of workers' rights, as described in
the National Employment Standards (NES).
The action taken against Mr. Klooger whereby he is fired for refusing to hand over
control of an encrypted chat group contravene the FWA. According to the FWA, before
terminating an employee's contract, it is essential that there is a valid reason for dismissal (eg
poor performance) and the dismissal procedure must be fair. Employees must be given the
reasons for their dismissal as well as the reasonable opportunity to respond to the decision.
An employee who feels that his dismissal was unfair may file an application with the Fair
Work Commission and claim compensation up to a salary of 6 months or $ 64,650
(whichever is less).
Paragraph two focuses on contracts. Under Fair Work Act, contractors are employees
and are entitled to minimum pay and condition. Employees are usually engaged with an
employer when they sign a written employment contract. These contracts can take a variety
of forms, from short, simple documents to more elaborate contracts for executives. As in any
contract, the parties to the contract are generally willing to freely determine the terms and
conditions of the employment contract. An important point to remember here is that contracts
of employment must never provide for less favorable general conditions than those provided
for by the SES. A clause of these employment contracts that contravene the minimum
standards of the NES would simply be inapplicable (Stewart, 2011 p.31). However, for the
case of Foodora, his terms of employment are not clear. It is important to note that most
employees are also protected from "unfair dismissal" under the FWA. These laws apply to an
employee who: works at least 6 months (or 12 months if he works in a company with less
than 15 employees); and earns less than $ 129,300 (gross) per year or is part of an award or
corporate agreement. From the article, it is not clear whether Foodora meets all these

conditions and that is why it is important to determine whether Foodora's contract
arrangement resembles makes Klooger qualify as a full time employee. It is clear that the
salaries of these employees did not reach the minimum legal wage level, and did not receive
sufficient temporary shifts and overtime pay for night, weekend and public holidays. The
three workers were allegedly paid less than $1,620.74 in four weeks. In addition, Foodora
allegedly did not pay the three contributions for the three workers. To understand better, it is
important to define type of employees. Full time employee is one who work 5 days a week,
work 7.6 hours a day, and the boss does not indicate that you are a temporary worker or
contractor, then you are a full-time. Full-time employees enjoy all legally prescribed benefits,
including annual leave and sick leave (Wright 2012 p. 6). Temporary workers is one whose
working hours are irregular, usually based on the hours and days do. Temporary workers do
not have annual leave and sick leave, but the minimum wage is higher than the full-time and
part-time (usually at least 20%). Contractor is one who sign a contract with the company (six
months or one year) (Catanzariti, Byrnes & Latham, 2017 p. 73). Remember, this contract is
valid on the basis of labor laws. If the company wants you to work for them for $8 an hour,
you sign it. In fact, the $8 hour clause in that contract is invalid because it does not meet the
minimum wage in Australia (Pagura, 2011 p.11). Contract workers do not have annual leave
and sick leave, but contract workers usually have a skill, so the salary will be higher than full-
time.
Paragraph 3 reveals that Mr. Klooger and the chat members used the chat to exchange
tips about the job and swap shifts. Getting comparators is the right of employees in Australia.
DDA uses a “comparison test” to determine whether an unfavorable employment behavior is
“because” employees exercise their right to protection (Jessup 2017 p. 6070. This test
compares how the complainant handles, and if he or she is a hypothetical employee without a

disability, how the complainant will be treated. (Shi, 2012 p. 107). In a sense, Australia's use
of comparators is more beneficial to employees than Americans (Blake, 2011 p. 23).
Paragraph four reveals that the action against Mr Klooger was taken after cyclists
started using the group to discuss about pay conditions and to find out what other similar jobs
were paying. Section 341 of the FW Act applies to anyone who includes a complaint or
inquiry under the Workplace Act. The term “workplace rights” of the drafters of the “FW
Act” has a very broad meaning. Article 351 explains that an employer must not take adverse
action because of a person's "race, color, sex, sexual preference, age, physical or mental
disability, marital status, family or caregiver's responsibilities, pregnancy, religion, political
opinion, State extraction or social responsibility", employer or employee's employer origin
"includes "physical or mental disability" may provide significant protection to injured
employees (Bongiorno, 2015 p.97).
Paragraph 5 focuses on confidentiality and intellectual property rights of Foodora.
The amendments to the Intellectual Property Law (improving the level of intellectual
property rights) were passed on April 15, 2012 and became effective on April 15, 2013. This
Act contains Copyright Act 1968, Patent Act 1990, Trademark Act 1995, Plant Breeders'
Rights Act 1994, Industrial Designs Act 2003. The Design Act of 2003 (Federal)
(DesignAct2003) (Cth) raises the level of uniqueness in design registration requirements. The
new threshold is a two-step test. Design can only be registered if it meets both new and
unique requirements. Typically, if the design has been made public before submitting a
design registration application, for example, it has been published on the Internet, the design
is not registrable. Australia's Copyright Act 1968 (Copyright Act 1968) (Cth) protects
copyright. Australia does not have a copyright registration system. The scope of copyright
protection includes original literature, art, music and drama. The length of copyright
protection is the author's life plus 70 years. The “work” defined in the Copyright Act is not