LAW7083

Law of employee relations

Associate Professor M Pittard

One 2-hour seminar per week
* First semester
* City

Objectives On completion of this subject students will have acquired (1) a knowledge 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; (2) an understanding of the theoretical and philosophical bases underpinning the resolution of industrial disputes and the determination of relationships between employer and employees in Australia; and (3) an appreciation of the operation in practice of the systems of dispute resolution and determination in Australia.

Synopsis The subject covers three main areas: (a) the contract of employment, including the rights and obligations of employers and employees under the contract of employment, any rights in respect of unfair dismissal and redundancy, and remedies for enforcement; (b) industrial awards, involving a study of the role of awards which may govern employment relations at federal level and of making awards and resolving disputes at federal level (ie systems of compulsory and voluntary arbitration); the role of industrial tribunals; legal constraints and regulation of award making powers; enforcement; and the role of unions in arbitration and (c) enterprise agreements, including the nature of collective agreements and Australian Workplace Agreements under the Commonwealth Workplace Relations Act 1996; 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; the role of minimum entitlements legislation.

Assessment Written research assignment (5000 words): 50%
* Class participation: 10%
* Final or take-home examination: 40%

Texts

McCallum R C and Pittard M J Australian labour law: Cases and materials 3rd edn, Butterworths, 1995