The Rudd Government’s Fair Work Act 2009 has increased the workload of employment lawyers since its inception on 1 July according to a leading industrial relations lawyer. The new law has empowered Fair Work Australia to oversee enterprise bargaining almost as a case manager and that has meant increased work to law firms to ensure their clients are bargaining in good faith.
“The trend seems to be that the parties do the bargaining but there is occasional frequent recourse to Fair Work Australia as to the manner in which the bargaining is to take place,” said Deacons partner David Cross who will be covering the topic at the upcoming ALB Masterclass on employment law. “Obviously now you’ve got a situation where a party has a legal obligation to bargain in good faith so there’s a compliance issue and whenever there’s a compliance issue legal teams are needed to make sure their clients are in compliance.”
Cross said that, in addition to advising clients to ensure they bargain in good faith, lawyers are being called on to represent their clients at the hearings before Fair Work Australia. Prior to the law taking place, a party was under no obligation to collectively bargain and the Australian Industrial Relations Commission only really stepped in to act in severe cases. With Fair Work Australia taking a far more hands-on approach, industrial relations practices can expect to be kept busy.
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