LAW5319 - Law of employee relations - 2018

This unit focuses on the law of employee relations. Topics covered will focus on issues such as the contract of employment; the rights and obligations of employers and employees; rights in respect of unfair dismissal and redundancy, and remedies for breach; collective (enterprise) agreements under the Commonwealth Fair Work Act 2009; the process of negotiation, the legal status of such agreements, and procedures for enforcement; the role of unions and the Fair Work Commission in these processes and procedures; modern awards and the legislative prescription of minimum entitlements in the National Employment Standards.

On completion of this unit students will be able to:

• apply knowledge and understanding of the law relating to employee relations in Australia, the sources of rights and obligations between employers and employees and the processes of resolving employer-employee disputes with creativity and initiative to new situations in professional practice;
• investigate, analyse and synthesise complex information, problems, concepts and theories in relation to the theoretical and philosophical bases underpinning the resolution of industrial disputes and the determination of relationships between employer and employees in Australia;
• conduct research in law of employee relations based on knowledge of appropriate research principle and methods; and
• use cognitive, technical and creative skills to generate and evaluate at an abstract level complex ideas and concepts relevant to the operation in practice of the systems of dispute resolution and determination in Australia.

Research assignment (3,750 words): 50%

Class participation: 10%

Take home examination (3,000 words): 40%

24 contact hours per semester (either intensive, semi-intensive or semester long, depending on the Faculty resources, timetabling and requirements)