Fair work Ombudsman of Australia Assignment PDF
Added on 2021-04-16
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Running head: FAIR WORK OMBUDSMEN OF AUSTRALIAFair Work Ombudsman of AustraliaName of the Student:Name of the University:Author Note:
FAIR WORK OMBUDSMEN OF AUSTRALIA1Introduction:The Office of the Fair Work Ombudsman or FWO is an autonomous department underthe Ministry of Employment, Government of Australia. The body was formed on July 1, 2009and stands on Fair Work Act 2009. They function as the representatives of the ministry toenforce safe and secure workplace environment in the business organizations in the country. Thebody looks into enforcement of employee safety in the business organizations and providesguidance to both employees and employers in the area. The head of the office of FWO isSenetor, the Honorable Michaelia Cash. The jurisdiction of the Fair Work Ombudsman spansboth public and private sector companies operating within Australia. Its jurisdiction also includesthe Australian branches of foreign multinational companies irrespective of industry and countryof origin. The organizations and the employees can gain information on the workplace laws onthe official website of the body. The FWO has its headquarters in Melbourne, Australia. The FairWork Ombudsman offices are also present in Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide, Darwin andPerth.Body paragraph:The Fair Work Ombudsman of Australia are very effective in enforcement employeerights and benefits in the workplaces in Australia and have several positive aspects which maketheir presence in undisputed in the workplace scenario of the country. The business organizationsand their employees require the services of FWO to operate ethically and sustainably in themarket. The FWO provides education to the employers and their employees’ information onpayments, salaries, rights of employees and obligations of business organizations to theiremployees. They provide resort to employees when they are exploited by their employers and aredenied legitimate rights like payments or made to work under unsafe work conditions
FAIR WORK OMBUDSMEN OF AUSTRALIA2(independent.co.uk, 2018). The Fair Work Ombudsmen can provide guidance to employees inareas of tax, harassment of the employees in the workplaces, unfair dismissals, leaves and otheremployment related disputes with the employers. The body forbids business organizationsfunctioning within Australia to enforce safe work conditions for all the employees in theirorganizations. The body has also mandated companies to extend safety to their outsourcedemployees. The companies engaged in activities where employees have to work under conditionsprone to accidents like construction companies are mandated by the body to ensure safety of allthe employees (theguardian.com, 2018). The importance of the Fair Work Ombudsman lies in the fact that the body is empoweredto take legal actions against companies violating safe work conditions and denying theiremployees their legitimate rights. For example, the Fair Work Ombudsman fined a Taiwanesefirm an amount of $ 900000 when it under paid its employees by $5 an hour (fairwork.gov.au,2018). The body imposed heavy fine on a national level securities company called SecuritiesInternational Services Proprietary Limited when it underpaid its employees. The fine was evenbigger because the investigation showed that the firm encouraged its sub-contractors to use thesame exploitative behaviour on its employees. An analysis of these two cases shows that thebody is capable of taking actions against both foreign and national level companies. One can alsopoint out that the body is empowered to initiate formal investigations and legal actions againstcompanies on receiving complaints from employees. One can also point out that the body isemerging as a necessity to protect employee rights in Australia keeping the rising exploitation ofworkers, especially foreign workers in the country (independent.co.uk, 2018).The Fair Work Ombudsman is necessary for the labourers because it protects their rightsand minimises their exploitation in the hands of their employers. Australia is a developed
FAIR WORK OMBUDSMEN OF AUSTRALIA3economy with immense power to generate employment. The country is also one of the mostsought after employment destination in the world which means that a huge number of employeesfrom nations like China come here in search of job. This immense inflow of job seekers in thecountry have also given rise to illegal groups which exploit workers and make them work underharsh conditions. There have been reports of farm workers and mine workers being exploited byproviding no salary and forced to live in poverty working for long hours without rest. There haveeven reports of workers bring injured and being dying due to these situations (theguardian.com,2018). The Fair Work Ombudsman enables the Government of Australia to rescue theseexploited foreign workers. It can be pointed out that the necessity of FWO is not restricted torescue of exploited workers but goes beyond that.The necessity of the the FWO lies in the fact it plays strategic role in the foreignrelationship and the maintaining a high image of the country of Australia on the global stage. Forexample, the exploitation of foreign workers in Australia can result in breaching foreignrelationship the country has with other countries. These incidences can malign the image ofAustralia, thus reducing it form acquiring foreign talents. This would in turn limit theinnovations which the foreign employees carry out in the companies of Australia. Theseexploitations would also reduce the acceptance of Australian workers in the foreign countries.Thus one can easily point out that FWO rescues exploited foreign workers and enables thecountry to create a strong employee centric image on the international stage (smh.com.au, 2018).The third necessity of FWO lies in the fact that it enables the Government of Australiabuild a strong and positive image not only before the foreign countries, but also amongAustralian citizens. As per the Australian Bureau of Statistics, around 2.5 percent of Australianbelong to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander group as per latest data available (abs.gov.au,
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