Employment Relation in Australia

Running head: EMPLOYMENT RELATION IN AUSTRALIA
EMPLOYMENT RELATION IN AUSTRALIA
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1EMPLOYMENT RELATION IN AUSTRALIA
Employment relations in an organization means the ways the organization maintains a
harmonious balance in the employee-employer relationship, relationship with trade union and
association of the organization with the state (Rawling & Schofield-Georgeson, 2018).
Organization’s focus on improving the employment relations for having a smooth functioning
of the organization and for having a supportive work environment. In Australia, the Fair
Work Commission is a tribunal for maintaining proper industrial relation under the Fair Work
Act, 2009 (Rawling, 2015). This act attempts to improve the regulation of the industrial
relations, and so it has taken over the Industrial Relation Commission of Australia. The Fair
Work Commission in Australia looks after all Industrial Relation matters such as – industrial
awards, resolution of the dispute, fixation of minimum wages and many more. This essay
focuses on understanding the role and analyzing the effectiveness of the Fair Work
Commission in respect of reviewing the modern awards for employment relations in the
Australian System.
The Fair Work Commission gives modern awards or the Industrial awards to all the
employees who are covered by the workplace relation system in Australia (Oliver, 2016).
However, not all those employees or employers who earn a high amount of income are
covered under it though they may belong to the industry to which these awards apply. This
award does not include any employees who are working in under any agreement or contract.
These modern awards ensure that all the organisations and employees who are covered under
it get minimum wages, proper working conditions, get appropriately paid for overtime, night
shifts, appropriate leave entitlements are to be given, and these awards undertake many more
work-related factors. This modern award along with the National Employment Standards
(NES) ensure that a minimum safety is given to the employees and employers in all the
organizations. The contemporary scholarship provides safety coverage to almost all the
employees of Australia (Scrine, 2016). The modern award system is mandatory in Australia

2EMPLOYMENT RELATION IN AUSTRALIA
according to the Fair work commission. If a person has coverage under the contemporary
award than he may earn more than the limit for high income and still be within the
jurisdiction of the FWC.
A few National Employment Standards (NES) are included in the Fair Work Act
2009, which lays down a minimum standard of employment conditions in Australia (Weller,
2015). The NES standards combined with government standards of minimum wages provide
safety to the employees and the employer so that they cannot be paid less than the minimum
wages as laid down by the government standards of minimum wages. An employee cannot
be asked to work for conditions less well than the ones mentioned in the NES. NES and the
government standards of minimum wages cover many employment-related issues –
conditions for termination, annual leave, minimum wages and many more still these acts fail
to include the many problems (Landau & Howe, 2016). For instance: according to the NES
an employee has to work for a minimum 38 hours in a week, but it fails to specify the that
when those hours need to be completed or if there will be any penalty for not working in the
office hours.
To overcome the barriers faced by the NES and the government standards of
minimum wages the modern awards have stepped in. The contemporary scholarship provides
many more entitlements than those covered by NES and the government standards of
minimum wages. It offers maximum protection for employees and employers by identifying
the nature of the work and the industry to which they belong (Whiteford & Heron, 2018).
Each organization needs to understand which modern award has to be given to employees
and employers. If it fails to determine the correct award for its people that will lead to
conflicts of different types. For instances-the employee may feel that he is not being paid
according to his capabilities, moreover many other issues may be brought to the notice of the
organization through a fair work ombudsman.