The Role of Fair Work Ombudsman in Australian Employment Relations

This essay examines the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) and its crucial role within Australia's employment relations framework, established by the Fair Work Act 2009. The FWO, an independent agency, is responsible for ensuring compliance with employment laws, providing education and advice, investigating breaches, and promoting harmonious workplace relations. The essay explores the FWO's functions, including providing information on rights and obligations, developing relationships with stakeholders, and handling complaints. It analyzes the FWO's impact on various organizations such as 7-Eleven, Caltex, McDonald's, and Coles, highlighting both positive outcomes like improved working conditions and challenges such as brand reputation issues. The essay concludes by emphasizing the FWO's effectiveness in fostering a culture of compliance and recommending further enhancements to improve workplace conditions for both employees and employers within the Australian employment landscape.

Running Head: EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS 1
Employment Relations: Role of the Fair
Work Ombudsman in Australia

EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS 2
The Employment relations and workplace relations in Australia set a safety net of
minimum conditions and terms of employment and a variety of workplace responsibilities and
rights. In this country, employment system is the combination of common law, legislation,
legally binding agreements and awards. Australia has a syndicate of state and federal laws that
addresses several issues such as; working hours, workplace conditions like occupational safety
and health, compensation, industrial action and annual leaves. Australian employment relation
system, i.e. the Fair Work System started on 1st July 2009 and it was established by the Fair
Work Act 2009. This system includes the most of the workplaces in Australia (Bamber, Wales,
Lansbury and Wright, 2015). This act created an independent agency that was named as Fair
Work Ombudsman (FWO). This essay discusses the effectiveness and role of Fair Work
Ombudsman in Australian system of employment relations. It is playing an effective role in
developing better relationships at Australian workplaces.
In Australia, employment and workplace relation laws are sanctioned by the Commonwealth
Parliament. The practical implementation of the Fair Work Act is overlooked by the Fair Work
Ombudsman and Fair Work Commission. The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) is an independent
and statutory agency that is created under Fair Work Act, 2009 (FW Act). The Fair Work
Ombudsman and current head of this agency is Natalie James. She was appointed on this
position by the Government-General on the July 15 2013 (Shaw, McPhail & Ressia, 2018). The
FWO is assisted by staff, which helps with the advisory functions and work and performance of
workplace compliance, developed under Fair Work Act. Fair Work Ombudsman has its offices
all over Australia, which are situated in major cities and local areas of all territories and states.
The Fair Work Ombudsman of Australia plays an independent and vital role in the enhancing
productive workplace relations and making sure that workplaces are complying with different
employment and workplace laws. Its free services include education and advice related to fair
work practices and enquiry of alleged breaches. The major role of this office is to promote
productive, cooperative and harmonious relations at workplaces (Pocock, Charlesworth, and
Chapman, 2013). In addition to this, it monitors, investigates, analyzes and enforces the
compliance of employment laws of Australia. There are five specific acts of FWO and these
services are provided without charging any fees. These services include;

EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS 3
 FWO is responsible for providing education to the working population in Australia about
the rights, obligations and fair work practices.
 It provides a single place of communication for timely and reliable information about the
employment relation system of Australia.
 It makes efforts for developing and maintaining the effective and strong relationships
with unions, industries and other internal and external stakeholders (Stewart, 2011).
 Moreover, FWO plays a critical role in evaluating the complaints and alleged breaches of
employment laws, awards and agreements and orders from Fair Work Commission.
 In addition to above role, FWO has an important role in the process of litigation in some
situations to apply workplace legislations and prevent the people from doing wrongful act
in the community and workplace.
In this way, staff at this office is committed to give advice, on which people can rely and helping
the employees and employees to resolve the workplace issues. It also hires Fair Work Inspectors,
who are empowered to search and apply enforcement of Australian workplace laws’ compliance
(Fair Work Ombudsman, 2018). These laws and regulations include: different provisions of Fair
Work Act, 2009, National Employment Standards, Contractors Act, 2006, orders of Fair Work
Commission and different agreements. To avail the information about the obligations and rights
at workplace, the people can go to the website, i.e. www.fairwork.gov.au. The employees, who
think that they are illegally discriminating by employer, can request assistance from the office of
Fair Work Ombudsman (Wells, 2009). There are some pending things, which need to be
included under the entitlement of Fair Work Ombudsman such as minimum wage, fine on
infringement, employment checklist etc. In this way, Fair Work Act, 2009 gives protection of
various rights like workplace rights, right to become free from unlawful discrimination, right to
involve in industrial operations etc.
From the above content, it is critically analyzed about Fair Work Ombudsman that it has both
positive and negative impacts on the organization and its workplace. However the challenges of
FWO are very few, as it offers various benefits to both employees and employers. The office of
Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) is very favorable for developing and maintaining effective
relationships between employees and employers (Hardy & Howe, 2015). The FWO provides
employers and employees free advice and information on working conditions, pay, working

EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS 4
obligations and rights. By complying with the employment laws and Fair Work Ombudsman
practices, employers develop the flexibility to attain a balance between family responsibilities
and work for all the workers. It is providing various benefits to the employees and employers
such as increased productivity and efficiency, job satisfaction, decreased absenteeism and work-
life balance (Bray, Waring, Cooper & Macneil, 2018).
The Fair Work Act, 2009 includes the entitlements that an employer should give its employees to
help the employees and employers to attain work-life balance. Work life balance is not always
good for the employees and employers, as it reduces the communication and innovation at
workplace. For example, if the people are working from their home or they have flexible
working hour, then it can reduce their effectiveness and productivity of employees. Fair Work
Ombudsman is very effective for the workplace environment as it reduces the employee
discrimination and enhances equality (Charlesworth, and Macdonald, 2015). Apart from these
benefits, the changes in the pay equity and discrimination are disadvantageous for women
particularly. As compared to the employees in other nations, Australian employees possess
minimal rights of flexible working hours.
In Australia, Fair Work Ombudsman is making efforts to reduce the burden of rules and
regulations on individuals and businesses. It comprises of cutting via excessive red tape and
enhancing the efficiency of stakeholders and employees. In Australia, there are various
organizations such as; Seven Eleven, Coles and McDonalds, which signed on with the Fair Work
Ombudsman (James, 2018). 7-Eleven, Australia’s largest convenience and petrol retailer has
signed a compliance deed with Fair Work Ombudsman that will establish a standard for
franchising in Australia. In the tear 2016, The Fair Work Ombudsman a report on the results of
its enquiry into franchise network of 7-eleven. The inquiry of the agency was encouraged by the
allegations of non-compliance with the federal legislations of employment and workplace. It was
found that various franchisees of the organization have been falsifying the data and records to
cover the underpayment of wages to employees (Fair Work Ombudsman, 2017). FWO has an
important engagement with the 7-eleven office between the duration of 2009 and 2014 and
estimated to see enhancements in compliance. The report of agency stated that they had various
issues about the accuracy of records and wages. Organization and its employees have not
supported the investigations at 7-eleven. Due to this investigation, the organization has focused

EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS 5
on its workplace equality and compliance and taken various steps to rectify the situation.
However, it has improved the working conditions at 7-Eleven, but it has affected the brand
image of the company. This is the major reason that there was a decrease in the customer base of
7-Eleven Company. Moreover, Caltex is a petroleum brand of Chevron Corporation that has
breached the workplace laws for three quarters according to the report of FWO. The latest
compliance activity report of Fair Work Ombudsman shows that non-compliance rate at Caltex
is 76% in Caltex network. After the inspection of FWO, this organization has announced that it
aims to transform its franchised service stations to the organization’s stores by mid-2020. FWO
ordered Caltex to engage in the offer of compliance of employment and workplace laws, so that
it can operate its business honestly and openly (Ferguson, 2018).
McDonalds is another organization that has partnered with Fair Work Ombudsman to enhance
the workplace processes at its restaurants all over Australia. It has made employment compliance
a higher priority by validating a compliance deed with FWO. By this, organization has made sure
that over 90,000 employees at its restaurants are paid equally and correctly (New, 2015). The
report of FWO analyzed that McDonalds is providing a comfortable working environment and
conditions to its employees. Young employees are the major people, which are having significant
benefits from partnership between FWO and McDonalds. After the conclusion of first Deed,
McDonald’s approached FWO and committed to continuous compliance with the employment
and workplace laws. After the investigation, Ms. James stated that first Deed saw undertake of
McDonald’s self-regulated, responsive compliances processes, which have enhanced the manner,
in which it manages employment relations both externally and internally (Fair Work
Ombudsman, 2014). This initiative has given a great opportunity to McDonald’s for
development in the different areas of its business that had a positive effect on relationships with
staff and lower level employees. In comparison to 7-Eleven, McDonald’s has emphasized on its
employees and conditions. It has also hired a staff member, who handles inquiries from workers
about their rights and wages. In this way, Fair Work Ombudsman is very effective in case of
McDonalds in Australia (Marin-Guzman, 2018).
In addition to above companies, Coles is the first supermarket chain that has worked with Fair
Work Ombudsman to overcome the exploitation of trolley collectors. The FWO alleged that
Coles came to know that trolley collection workers at its stores were not paid appropriate

EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS 6
minimum wages and but organization did not take any action. The FWO has welcomed the
findings of enhanced wage compliance and responsibility in trolley collection network of Coles.
The third report of the company shows that there was significant decrease in the complaints
about the salaries of trolley collection employees. The head of Fair Work Ombudsman Natalia
James stated that Coles Company should be admired for positive outcomes as trolley collectors
are receiving fair wages and treatment (Fair Work Ombudsman, 2018). When Coles has agreed
to back pay its employees, then Ombudsman has withdrawn its legal processes. It has affected
the job satisfaction level of its trolley collectors. In this way, partnership with Fair Work
Ombudsman was effective for Coles Organization. Thus, it can be stated that FWO has positive
impact on the organization and its workplace. Due to this, companies are able to establish a work
culture of compliance in their perspective sectors. Sometimes, the report of FWO may have
adverse impact on the customer behavior that ultimately affects the brand reputation of
organization. Moreover, they can experience the employee turnover due to discrimination and
lower morale. This is the major reason that majority of the workplaces in Australia are working
with the cooperation of the Fair Work Ombudsman and developing a culture of employment
laws’ compliance (Giammetta, 2014).
Thus, it can be concluded that Fair Work Ombudsman is an agency of Australian Government,
which serves as a central body for free information and advice on employment relation system.
This agency also examines the complaints at workplace and applies the compliance with
employment laws. It is a body that is working for the benefits of Australian employers and
employees. There are various functions and activities, which are practiced by this agency. This
agency is very effective for Australian employment relations. It is hereby recommended that
FWO should include some more activities and services, which can improve the workplace
conditions. The organizations should work for the benefits of employees and provide equal
opportunities to all the employees.

EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS 7
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