Law of employee relations 700
Not offered in 1995
One 2-hour seminar weekly over 13 weeks
Employee relations are undergoing rapid changes at both Federal and Victorian levels. This course involves a study of the processes of settling terms and conditions of employment and dispute resolution for employees at federal level and in Victoria under the Industrial Relations Act 1988 (Cth) and the Employees Relations Act 1992 (Vic.), and of the rights and obligations of employees and employers in employment. Attention will be given to a comparison between a formalised central system of regulating labour relations and a deregulated system of determining conditions of employment, and the theoretical and philosophical bases of the different systems . The object is for students to obtain an understanding of the law governing Australian employee relations at both the level of individual employee and the collective level involving trade unions and employer.The course covers three main areas. (a) The contract of employment. This includes the sources of the rights and obligations of employers and employees under the contract of employment (agreed terms and terms implied by law or fact in contracts of employment as well as the interaction of enterprise or collective agreements, awards and statute); the nature of employer and employee obligations; any rights in respect of unfair dismissal and redundancy; remedies for enforcement. (b) Industrial awards. This involves study of the role of awards which may govern employment relations at Federal and Victorian levels. It includes the processes of making awards and resolving disputes about terms and conditions of employment at Federal level (Industrial Relations Act 1988 [Cth]) and in Victoria (Employee Relations Act 1992 [Vic]) (ie systems of compulsory and voluntary arbitration); the role of industrial tribunals; legal constraints and regulation of award making powers; enforcement of awards; the role of unions in arbitration. (c) Enterprise agreements. This includes the nature of enterprise and collective agreements (and individual agreements under the Victorian Employee Relations Act 1992); the process of negotiation; the legal status of such agreements; procedures for enforcement and remedies for breach; the role of unions and industrial tribunals in negotiations of and supervision over enterprise agreements; the significance of agreements in Australian employee relations today.
Assessment
Written research assignment (5000 words): 50% * Class participation: 10% * Examination (final or take-home): 40%