A Comparative Analysis of Employment Relations: Australia vs India

This report provides a comparative analysis of employment relations in Australia and India. It examines the legal frameworks governing employment, including key legislation like Australia's Fair Work Act 2009 and India's various labor laws. The report contrasts the approaches to minimum wage, employment contracts, and the role of trade unions. It also explores anti-discrimination legislation, highlighting differences in how employees' rights are protected and enforced in each country. The report discusses the processes for handling discrimination complaints and the available remedies for employees. Furthermore, it evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of each country's employment relation practices, offering insights into their flexibility, contemporary relevance, and the challenges they face in adapting to evolving employment landscapes. The report concludes by providing a detailed overview of the employment relation practices and their implications in both countries.

Running Head: EMPLOYMENT RELATION 0
Managing Employment and Relations

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Employment relation regulation and practices in Australia and India: compare and
contrast
In Australia, the main law that assist the employment relations is Fair Work Act 2009. It
governs majority of the workers of Australia that is supplemented by the other territory, state,
and federal legislative schemes that presents in the areas such as health, safety, work as well
as non-discrimination. As compare to Australia, employment relation law in India is framed
by the state and central government, individual and collective agreements, as well as by the
judicial precedents. It does not has specifically has one law (Rani, 2017). Various laws
regulate the employment relations in India (Helfen, Schüßler & Sydow, 2018). Therefore,
India has no single code on the employment and labour laws. As compare to Australia, the
fair work commission determines the essential industrial instrument including the modern
award. Every year the fair work commission conducts the review of annual wage and decides
the national minimum wage. It does not include the minimum wage in each region
specifically (Bray & Power, 2017). As compare to this, India has Minimum Wage Act 1948,
which includes the minimum wages at state, nation, occupation, or sector levels. In this way,
it determines the different wages for different class of work. In India, the several practices
govern the employment relations. It includes the factories Act 1948 (providing the safety,
health, welfare, leave and working hours of workers in the factories), contract labour (it
regulates the engagement of contract labour as well as contractor by the principal employer)
and many other laws. However, Indian government has also made the several regulation in
order to protect the interest of every international worker who are coming in India (Sinha,
Sinha, & Shekhar, 2017).
In Australia the regulation and practices of employment relation includes those person who
work pursuant to the service contract rather than the service on contract. This act also
provides the regular requirement such as employment must be systematic and regular
(Widdows, 2017). As compare to this, India employment regulation has included the
different type of worker in every practice. For example- in the Factories Act, it has included
the worker who is directly or through any agency is included in process of manufacturing. In
the Industrial dispute Act, worker man means any person who is employed in any industry to
do any skilled, manual, unskilled, supervisory work or operation work. Wages rates are also

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decided in each of the act that is not explained in the Australia employment relation law
(Douglas & Watt, 2018).
In Australia, the contract of employment relation is not needed to be in writing. However, at
the time of commencing employment, all the employees are required to provide with a copy
of fair work information statement that helps them in advising regarding their rights.
Similarly, Indian workers are also not mandatory required to provide the written contract of
employment. As compare to Australia, they can also communicate the contract of
employment regularly. It is not as much successful as oral communication can be sometime
miscommunicated or misunderstood by the employee. Therefore, like Australia, it should also
at least provide the copy of their work by underlining their rights. In addition to this,
Australia has no common law related to the right to privacy. Privacy act contains the record
of employee exemption that tends to relieve the employers from the several obligations.
Employers in this case are also free to use, collect, and disclose the employee record.
Therefore, it can also bring the required changes in employment relations.
In Australia, terms of contract can be implied into contract by custom, fact, or law. Terms
that are implied by the law proves to be essential that include the employee’s duties of
fidelity and faith to work with the diligence and skills. However, most of the implied terms
can be excluded by the terms of contract. As compare to Australia, Indian terms of contract
are applied by the way of usage, custom and practices. In the terms of contract, implied terms
can be the obligations such as duty to maintain the confidentiality, duty of care and non
disclosure. During collective bargaining, the employer and labour union make proposals on
non-economic issues, such as grievance procedures, seniority-based shift bidding and
economic issues, such as benefits, wages and pension contributions. It is also being implied
in the contract that employee is not allowed to make use the trade secrets of its previous
employer. The main criticism of the terms of contract of employment is that essential terms
and conditioned should be mentioned in the contract (Deakin & Haldar, 2015).
Employment relation practice of Australia also includes the minimum standards of
employment that is observed by the National Employment Standards. It includes the flexible
working environment, maximum hours in week, annual leave, parental leave, long service
leave, compassionate leave, community service leave, public holidays, and information
statement regarding fair work. The good point of its terms and condition is that it has
properly divided all the leaves. However, it fails in dividing the workers in each industry

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(McPhail, Patiar, Herington, Creed & Davidson, 2015). In India, various sector and state
specific laws lays down the certain terms in respect of working hours, wages, holidays, leave
entitlement and termination. With respect to the industry such as mines, cinema, transport,
the industry specific laws govern docks, sales promotion. However, it fails to divide the
leaves. Australian Employment relation practices are opposed due to less flexible, concise,
contemporary. It is also stated that member state must provide the guidance that will assist it
in developing the strategies as per the different situation. As compare to Australia, Indian
employment relation practices should review limitation and growth of new employment
relationship rather than giving more emphasis on creating the new constraints (Hajkowicz et
al, 2017).
In the Australia Fair Work Act 2009, ensures the registration of employee as well as
employer association and the enterprise association. The registration entails all the
responsibilities related to the rules of organisation, financial management, and governance
standards. It also lays down the processes by which cancellation of organisation registration
can be done. However, in India, Trade Unions are registered under the Trade Union Act. In
India, recognition of trade union is a distinct process that is not explained under the act of
trade union. It is found that neither recognition nor registration is significant under the trade
union act. Therefore, jurisprudence also provides that unregistered trade union do not have
any manner of right, these are included under the IDA.
Trade union of Australia as India has different rights. The FW Act of Australia allow the
registered unions to act as the bargaining representative. Besides this, Wok Safety and Health
Act 2011 and FW Act also allow the trade union to take entry into the workplace for their
specified purpose. However, the representative who has taken the valid permission to enter
into the premises of employer for the purpose of exercising rights under the safety and health
laws, meeting with the employees or for investigating the breaches related to the outworkers.
In India, trade union rights are different. Due to the registration, trade union can attain the
legal recognition (Sinha, 2017).They also have the right to contract by them as well as by the
agent holding immovable as well as movable property in their name. They tends to negotiate
as well as represent on the behalf of employees with employer for any settlement and dispute
of the employment matters (Agarwala & Saha, 2018).
In the practices of employment relation of Australia, the range of territory, federal and state
anti-discrimination legislation, protects employees. Employees are also protected by fair

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work act that prohibits the employer for taking adverse action against the employee. The FW
act of Australia includes the age, sex, colour, sexual preference, marital status, mental or
physical disability, religion, pregnancy, political opinion, social origin and national
extraction. As compare to this, Indian constitution grants the various fundamental rights for
the citizen of India such as prohibiting the discrimination based on race, religion, sex, caste
and enables them in framing the laws that are made for the favour of under privileged. All the
persons with any disability act 1995, prohibits all the types of discrimination made during the
pay, hiring and promotion against the disable person. the employment relation act of India
also eliminates the biasness of gender and make sure that men as well as women are paid the
equal salary for the similar kind of work. Maternity benefit act also protects the right of
female employees in India. However, the legislation in Indian differs between the private and
public entities (Cox & Birdsall-Jones, 2019).
In Australia, they have two common formulation of the two unlawful discrimination- one is
direct discrimination and second one is indirect discrimination. Direct discrimination occurs
when the complaints are given less favour. Indirect discrimination occurs when there is
unreasonable condition as well as requirement is imposed on the complaint that proves to be
the barrier. Under the employment relation in India, discrimination is based in the ground of
caste religion, gender, sex as well as the place of birth. In addition to this, under the provision
of ER act, leading to the discrimination between the women and men is treated to be
unlawful. Every price of the anti-discrimination legislation of Australia contains the specific
exemption or exception that come under the specific attribute (Mahmood, 2016). In the
contact of employment, some of the exceptions are treated a guanine qualification of
occupation, unjustifiable hardship, inherent job requirement, acts done under the statutory
authority. Besides this, it is also possible under the statutory schemes to obtain the temporary
exemption. In India, there is no standard defence in order to claim the discrimination.
Therefore, depends on the situation and facts, differences in the requirement of health and
safety, nature of work, and the need of affirmation can be considered as the valid ground of
references.
Australian employment practices have also explained how employees can enforce their right
of discrimination. In Australia, any complaint must be lodged with the appropriate statutory
author for the investigation through conciliation. It proceeds with escalating the complaint to
the tribunal or court for enforcing the legal obligation or right. Prospective employees can
also enforce the discrimination under the act of FW. Most of the discriminations are resolved

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through the negotiation and conciliation. As compare to Australia, discrimination in India is
based on the nature of discrimination. At such situation, employees can approach to the court
and complaint the file for enforcing the right of discrimination (Wilson, 2018). In various
cases, Indian organisations have the HR or labour policies that permit the discrimination
employees to approach the grievance redressal as well as the helpline for resolving the
complaints. In most of the cases in India, employer also settle the claim before or after of the
complaint initiation. Australian employees at the time facing discrimination, remedies are
available to the employee. Remedies available under the anti-discrimination legislation
include the compensatory damages, declarations, injunction, apologies as well as retractions.
As compare to Australia, remedies available to the Indian employee depend upon the nature
of the statute and claim by providing the employees their right to claim. Most of the
legislation also provides for the terms of imprisonment and pecuniary fines in the situation of
the breaching any of the provision (Sinha, 2019). In some cases where the discrimination on
employee also led to the termination of employment, fails the agreement between employer
and employee. In such circumstances, a successful claim of the discrimination will restore the
job.

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