Fair Work Ombudsman's Role in Australian Workplace

The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) plays a crucial role in maintaining a fair and better Australian workplace. The FWO's core function is to determine whether the overall requirements of Commonwealth workplace laws are being observed. This includes resolving grievances, obtaining client feedback, and refining agency practices. The FWO's actions can affect the expectations of both employers and employees, making it essential for them to act efficiently in accordance with the laws.

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FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN
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In Australia the workplace relation system is as per the Fair Work Act 2009 and various
other laws and legislation. This covers almost entire of private sector employers and employees
throughout the nation. The workplace relation legislations are enacted in the country by the
Commonwealth Parliament (Australia.gov.au, 2018). Fair Work Ombudsman and Fair Work
Commission oversee the practical application related to Fair Work Act within all the present
workplaces. Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) helps all the employers, employees, wider
communities and the communities to clearly understand its workplace responsibilities and rights.
It also enforces compliance with regards to Australia’s workplace laws.
Fair Work Ombudsman’s office is an independent and statutory agency that is developed
under Fair Work Act (FW Act). The head of the agency and Fair Work Ombudsman is Natalie
James. The FWO is appointed to maintain harmonious and smooth relations in the workplace to
protect the workers right. FWO is a statutory office holder appointed to enforce the right of
employers and workers under Commonwealth workplace Laws. They highly contribute to create
a better working environment in Australia. The FWO is generally supported by highly skilled
and proficient staffs. They assist by performing advisory and compliance functions that is set out
within the Fair Work Act (Vosko, Grundy & Thomas, 2016). FWO has its offices established all
over the Australian region. It is situated in almost all the regional areas of various states and
territories besides the capital cities.
The major role of Fair Work Ombudsman is to promote productive, cooperative and
harmonious workplace relations. FWO investigates, monitors, inquiries into and enforces
compliance law in the workplaces of Australia (Fairwork.gov.au, 2018). FWO free services
include educating and creating awareness among the individuals about fair work obligations,
rights and workplace in the country. FWO consists of a single point of contact to obtain timely

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and reliable information related to Australia’s workplace relation system. Moreover, assessing
suspected breaches or complaints of the workplace awards, laws, few Fair Work Commission
orders and registered agreements is the free services provided by FWO’s. Litigating in few
scenarios by enforcing workplace laws to save people from doing wrong within the community
is another of its vital role (Webster, 2017). FWO also helps in building effective and strong
relationships with unions, industry and major stakeholders.
Fair Work Ombudsman performs various important functions that include promoting
compliance related with the FW Act and proper work instruments. FWO commences court
proceedings or make application to Fair Work Commission (FWC) to enforce the FW Act. FWO
represent such employees, who may become or are party to the proceedings in court or party to a
matter before the Fair Work Commission. They also refer the significant matters to the relevant
authorities. As per Sutherland (2015) FWO has high jurisdiction that extends to most parts of the
FW act and also to a certain part of the laws and regulations that regulates the independent
contractors. Furthermore, the Fair Work Ombudsman acts to make sure the overseas workers are
treated fairly while working in Australia.
The FWO operates its functional activities in a very unique regulatory environment. In
the Commonwealth workplace relation arena an inspector has always been present in one form or
other since the year 1934. The major role of FWO is to provide education, ensure compliance
related to provisions established in the Commonwealth workplace laws. As per Clibborn (2015)
FWO is statutory agency of the highest professional and ethical standards that is accountable for
its every decisions to public at large. Accountability is one of the major values of the Australian
Public Services (APS) that helps to define their role as a major institution within the Australia’s
democratic system. Being APS employees, every individual at FWO is accountable to the

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parliament and public for each of the decisions that have been made (Vosko, Grundy & Thomas,
2016). The employees under FWO are also accountable for their performances and actions
through frameworks and performance management systems.
The FWO is responsible for undertaking various pro-activities related in the area of
information, compliances and education that includes both the target campaigns and audits. FWO
is capable to investigate or monitor such matters that relates to its own volition. In addition to
this the FWO also receives several complaints from the general public regarding conditions of
employment, wages and workplace rights. According to Forsyth (2016) within the FWO, the
term ‘complaint’ is defined as any such matter that is received by the Fair Work Ombudsman
that involves allegation. It can be in verbal or written form and also includes expectation of
redress that requires the FWO intervention. Generally, FWO refers to complaint parties as the
‘complainant’ even if the matter is not raised directly from the aggrieved person.
According to Barry and You, (2017) any such inquiry, investigation or complaint
treatment into an alleged contravention of workplace laws should be undertaken efficiently and
promptly. Employees of the FWO include Fair Work Inspectors showcases integrity,
determination, honesty, responsiveness, proficiency and objectivity. They perform actions from
their expertise and professional knowledge. FWO as an agency therefore continues to foster to
maintain both international and national best practices. As per Clibborn (2015) the Fair Work
Ombudsman functions as a statutory office holder is not only limited to determine the complaints
for underpayment of wages. FWO’s successful functions is therefore cannot be achieved just by
adopting a mere restrictive focus.

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The employees working at FWO is highly proficient and committed to provide adequate
advice to the individuals. The advices are relevant to be relied on and further help the employees
and employers to resolve problems within the workplace. Fair Work Inspectors is appointed by
FWO and are empowered to monitor as well as enforce compliance with the workplace laws and
Industrial Instruments of Australia (Fairwork.gov.au, 2018). This includes various related
provisions of the FW Act, like terms and conditions related to employment, pay-slip obligations
and record-keeping. National Employment Standard is also covered within the laws and
industrial instruments of workplace.
According to Allen (2015) provision of the Independent Contractors Act 2006, which
consists prohibited is investigated by the Fair Work Inspectors. Moreover, order of the Fair Work
Commission is also monitored. Agreement- based transitional instruments and enterprise
agreements are investigated. This covers Australian Workplace Agreements, Collective
Agreements, Individual Transitional Employment Agreements and various others agreement that
is made prior to 2009. Modern awards and award based transitional agreements for employment
is also monitored by the FWO. This includes Notional Agreements Preserving State Awards,
Federal Awards, Division 2B state awards and State Reference Transitional Awards
(Australia.gov.au, 2018).
The FWO provides all the employers and employees free advices and information on
workplace rights, obligations, advice on pay and conditions. If any prospective employer is
discriminating against an individual unlawfully then FWO comes to their assistance (Kellner et
al., 2016). Fair Work Ombudsman has high responsibility for various novel initiatives so that the
employers, employees and their related associations can avail benefits and get educated. This
includes proper preparation and publication of the Fair Work Information Statements that the

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employers should provide to the new employees. Another major Fair Work Initiative includes
publication for the best practice guides that recommends the best initiatives for medium and
small businesses to be implemented. Moreover, Fair Work Ombudsman lays a sharper focus on
using persuasive and educative techniques so that the workplace disputes are easily resolved.
As per Kellner (2016) to the extent that FWO focuses on working with major parties so
that productive, harmonious and cooperative relations is explicitly communicated to the existing
community. This existing approach is most likely to be reciprocated by the parties to disputes,
thereby increasing successful resolution chances. According to Charlesworth and Macdonald,
(2014) transparency and integrity of the decision making process with regards to compliance
activities and all its formal dispute resolution is important. This is vital to both the reputation and
efficacy of the Fair Work Ombudsman. It is the duty of the FWO and senior executive to provide
direction and control to Fair Work Inspectors.
It is the duty of FWO employees to treat the public with courtesy and respect. The society
expects high quality and prompts services from APS and it is the duty of FWO to maintain these
standards by their positive contributions. Fair Work Inspectors facilitates in providing reasonable
assistance to the interesting parties (Wilson & Pender, 2017). They also help the public to clearly
understand the individual’s obligations and entitlements. The FWO also provides opportunity to
the parties so that feedback is given to maintain smooth communication. Often feedback would
also include certain grievance matters.
The FWO also implements two states based campaigns each year minimum twice per
state, according to the Portfolio Budget Statement. These campaigns should focus on a particular
part of the state or should be state wise. In few cases, when some state faces similar issues, the

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FWO held joint campaign across states or territories. The programs related to state based
campaign is evidence based; industry research is also taken into account. This also includes FEO
complaint analysis and further endorsed by Director of Targeted Campaigns (Oliver & Yu,
2017).
Fair Work Ombudsman contributes a significant role to create a fair and better Australian
Workplace. Natural justice is a broader concept and extends to such decisions, where public
power is exercised. Therefore, it can be concluded that the core function of the FWO is to
determine whether the overall requirements of Commonwealth workplace laws are adequately
being observed or not. Henceforth, the Fair Work Inspector’s actions can also affect the
expectations of both employers and employees legitimately. This approach makes all the parties
to act efficiently in accordance with the laws. FWO has a consistent and effective system to
handle the entire request for reviews efficiently. They provide a mechanism for resolving
grievances, obtaining clients feedback and also refining agency practices.

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References
Allen, D. (2015). Wielding the big stick: lessons for enforcing anti-discrimination law from the
Fair Work Ombudsman. Australian Journal of Human Rights, 21(1), 119-142.
Australia.gov.au. (2018). Fair Work Ombudsman | australia.gov.au. Australia.gov.au. Retrieved
22 March 2018, from https://www.australia.gov.au/directories/australia/fairwork
Barry, M., & You, K. (2017). Employer and employer association matters in Australia in
2016. Journal of Industrial Relations, 59(3), 288-304.
Charlesworth, S., & Macdonald, F. (2014). Women, work and industrial relations in Australia in
2013. Journal of Industrial Relations, 56(3), 381-396.
Clibborn, S. (2015). Why undocumented immigrant workers should have workplace rights. The
Economic and Labour Relations Review, 26(3), 465-473.
Fairwork.gov.au. (2018). Welcome to the Fair Work Ombudsman website. Fair Work
Ombudsman. Retrieved 22 March 2018, from https://www.fairwork.gov.au/
Farbenblum, B., & Berg, L. (2017). Migrant workers’ access to remedy for exploitation in
Australia: the role of the national Fair Work Ombudsman. Australian Journal of Human
Rights, 1-22.
Forsyth, A. (2016). Industrial legislation in Australia in 2015. Journal of Industrial
Relations, 58(3), 372-387.

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Kellner, A., Peetz, D., Townsend, K., & Wilkinson, A. (2016). ‘We are very focused on the
muffins’: Regulation of and compliance with industrial relations in franchises. Journal of
Industrial Relations, 58(1), 25-45.
Oliver, D., & Yu, S. (2017). The Australian labour market in 2016. Journal of Industrial
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Sutherland, C. (2015). Industrial legislation in Australia in 2014. Journal of Industrial
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Vosko, L. F., Grundy, J., & Thomas, M. P. (2016). Challenging new governance: Evaluating
new approaches to employment standards enforcement in common law
jurisdictions. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 37(2), 373-398.
Webster, J. (2017). More than underpayments and civil penalties–Taking a strategic approach to
regulatory workplace relations litigation. Journal of Industrial Relations, 59(3), 354-373.
Wilson, J., & Pender, K. (2017). Employment law: Intern or employee?: A potentially expensive
question. LSJ: Law Society of NSW Journal, (33), 84.