Employee and Employer Rights and Responsibilities As a young person starting work, it is critical that you are aware of your rights and responsibilities as well as that of your employer. Whilst most employers are very conscientious there are some that are unscrupulous especially when it comes to younger workers. The areas you need to know about include: Fair Work Practices Discrimination and equal opportunity Safety and Health Privacy of your information Workers Compensation Awards and pay rates, conditions of employment How you should be treated in the workplace Fair Work Practices All employees are covered under the Fair Work Act 2009 which states that you are entitled to the 10 NES entitlements as a minimum and these cannot be breached for any reason. These are listed below. 1. Maximum weekly hours of work 38 hours per week, plus reasonable additional hours. 2. Requests for flexible working arrangements an entitlement allowing parents or carers of a child under school age, or of a child under 18 with a disability, to request a change in working arrangements to assist with the care of the child. 3. Parental leave and related entitlements up to 12 months unpaid leave per employee, plus a right to request an additional 12 months unpaid leave, plus other forms of maternity, paternity and adoption related leave. 4. Annual leave four weeks paid leave per year, plus an additional week for certain shift workers.
5. Personal/carer s leave and compassionate leave 10 days paid personal/carer s leave, two days unpaid carer s leave as required, and two days compassionate leave (unpaid for casuals) as required. 6. Community service leave unpaid leave for voluntary emergency activities and leave for jury service, with an entitlement to be paid for up to 10 days for jury service. 7. Long service leave a transitional entitlement for employees as outlined in an applicable pre modernised award, pending the development of a uniform national long service leave standard. 8. Public holidays a paid day off on a public holiday, except where reasonably requested to work. 9. Notice of termination and redundancy pay up to five weeks notice of termination and up to 16 week s severance pay on redundancy, both based on length of service. 10. Provision of a Fair Work Information Statement must be provided by employers to all new employees, and contains information about the NES, modern awards, agreement-making, the right to freedom of association, termination of employment, individual flexibility arrangements, union rights of entry, transfer of business, and the respective roles of Fair Work Australia and the Fair Work Ombudsman. In addition, the Fair Work Act 2009 provides protections of certain rights, including: workplace rights the right to engage in industrial activities the right to be free from unlawful discrimination the right to be free from undue influence or pressure in negotiating individual arrangements. These rights are protected from certain unlawful actions, including (but not limited to): adverse action coercion misrepresentations undue influence or pressure in relation to: o individual flexibility arrangements under modern o awards and enterprise agreements o guarantees of annual earnings
o deductions from wages
Discrimination and equal opportunity You have the same rights as other employees to a safe workplace free of discrimination and harassment. Examples of harassment on disability grounds include: insulting or humiliating comments or action about disability abusive behaviour toward employees with disability creation of a hostile environment through words or action. You also have the right to workplace modifications or reasonable adjustments that minimise the impact of your disability in the workplace. Some of these rights are defined under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and state based antidiscrimination laws. The Disability Discrimination Act makes it unlawful to discriminate against people with disability in employment. This includes during a recruitment process, with employment benefits, terms and conditions, termination or dismissal. Discrimination is treating someone unfairly or harassing them because they belong to a particular group. It is against both federal and State laws for any employer to discriminate against an employee or job applicant because of their: age sex pregnancy disability (includes past, present or possible future disability) race, colour, ethnic or ethno-religious background, descent or nationality marital status carer's responsibilities homosexuality gender identification There are a few exceptions allowed at law (e.g. sometimes employers get permission to fill a job with a person from a particular group.) Both direct and indirect discrimination are against the law.
Safety and Health Employees (workers) and employers (bosses) both have OHS rights and responsibilities. Everyone has a duty of care towards each other in the workplace and you are required to follow all safe work procedures and wear PPE when requested to do so and in unsafe conditions. Employees must: 1. Work safely to protect yourself and others from injury and follow all OHS instructions, for example: Wear all personal protective equipment provided. Follow safe work procedures. Not interfere with or misuse anything provided by the employer (equipment, signs, etc.) that is used to keep the workplace safe. Not remove or change machine guards. Not behave in a way that puts themselves or others at risk. Respond to a reasonable request to provide assistance or first aid to an injured person at work. 2. Report any workplace hazards. Everyone in the workplace shares this responsibility equally. Employers must: 1. Properly orientate, train and supervise staff to ensure safe work practices are understood and followed by all employees. 2. Consult with all about decisions that will affect safety in the workplace. 3. Provide suitable personal protective equipment (PPE) to make sure workers can do their job safely and train workers how to use PPE correctly. 4. Monitor and evaluate OHS systems and procedures to ensure that workers are adequately protected from workplace hazards. 5. Regularly check OHS systems and procedures to make sure that workers are adequately protected from workplace hazards. 6. Provide adequate facilities for the welfare of employees. This covers everything from providing suitable toilet facilities to conducting risk assessments on premises and procedures. 7. Be aware of employers legal obligations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations and meet those obligations in full.
Privacy of your information Providing information about your disability to your employer may involve disclosing personal information. State and federal privacy legislation requires your employer to protect all confidential personal information, including information about your disability. For information on your rights at work with regards to disclosure and privacy, visit: Workers Compensation By law, employers must take out workers compensation insurance for all employees. Workers compensation insurance provides protection for you and your employer in the event of workplace-related injury or disease. Awards and pay rates, conditions of employment Minimum employment conditions, for employees in the national workplace relations system, are covered by the National Employment Standards (NES). Further conditions can be set by awards, agreements and other industrial instruments. Information below will assist you in know what you should be paid if you are not covered by an award i.e. the minimum wage rate: The federal minimum wage is currently $15.51 per hour or $589.30 per 38 hour week. Casual employees covered by the national minimum wage also get at least a 22 per cent casual loading. For award and agreement free junior employees, the percentage scale in the Miscellaneous Award 2010 is applied to the federal minimum wage. How you should be treated in the workplace Termination of Employment An employee is eligible to make an application to Fair Work Australia for unfair dismissal if they have completed the minimum employment period of: one year where the employer is a small business employer (which is an employer that employs less than 15 full-time equivalent employees). Note: a small business employer is defined as a business that employs less than 15
employees. All employees are to be counted, except for casuals who are not employed on a regular and systematic basis six months where the employer is not a small business employer. In addition, at least one of the following must apply: o an award covers the person o an enterprise agreement (or other industrial agreement) applies to the person the person s annual rate of earnings is less than the high income threshold (from 1 July 2011 this is $118,100.) This threshold will be indexed each financial year starting on 1 July. If you believe you have been unfairly dismissed, you can apply to Fair Work Australia for a remedy. You must apply within 14 days after a dismissal takes effect. Employer Rights and Responsibilities Go to this worksite to find out more about the Employer rights and responsibilities that are not mentioned above. http://www.fairwork.gov.au/resources/fact-sheets/workplace-rights/pages/default.aspx Procedures for upholding employee and employer rights and responsibilities If you feel that you are being discriminated against or not receiving your fair wages, telephone or use the online chat service to find out what you are entitled to and what you need to do to get this corrected. This service is also available for employers all at no cost to you. Harassm ent Every employee is responsible for helping prevent unlawful discrimination and harassment Harassm in their workplace. ent is a form of unlawful discrimination. Harassment is unwelcomed or unreciprocated behaviour which makes and employee or customer feel intimidated, offended, or belittled in the workplace.
What discrimination and harassment are not Workplace discrimination or harassment must not be confused with legitimate comment and advice (including relevant negative comment or feedback) from managers and supervisors on the work performance or work related behaviour of an individual or group. As a staff member you have the right to: a workplace that is free from unlawful discrimination and harassment fair practices and behaviour in your workplace competitive merit-based selection processes for recruitment or promotion training and development that enables you to be productive in your work and to pursue your chosen career path equal access to benefits and conditions including flexible working arrangements fair allocation of workloads, and fair processes to deal with work-related complaints and grievances. You have the responsibility to: work to the best of your ability and provide quality service to customers and colleagues recognise and respect the skills and talents of other staff members act to prevent harassment, discrimination and bullying against others in your workplace respect cultural and social differences among your colleagues and customers, and treat people fairly (don't discriminate against, harass or bully them). As a supervisor/manager You have the same rights and responsibilities as staff members and you also have the responsibility to: take steps to ensure that all work practices and behaviours are fair in your workplace, including fair allocation of workloads ensure the work environment is free from bullying and from all forms of unlawful discrimination and harassment
provide employees with information and resources to enable them to carry out their work consult employees about decisions that affect them provide all employees with equal opportunity to apply for available jobs, higher duties, job rotation schemes and flexible working arrangements ensure selection processes are transparent and the methods used are consistent provide all employees with equal access to fair, prompt and confidential processes to deal with complaints and grievances give your employees equal access to relevant training and development opportunities identify special training and development needs of EEO group members in your team and help them gain access to training and development opportunities, and participate in learning opportunities and seek feedback to help you manage staff effectively Roles and responsibilities of colleagues and immediate superiors Within a business we all have certain roles and responsibilities. Your immediate superior is your supervisor who has a critical role in the management of your performance as well as managing operational costs, providing you with training and assistance, allocating tasks to you, checking the quality of your work as well as measuring the performance of your company. The role of your colleagues is to provide mentoring and assistance when you are new to the job. They will offer you general support, advice and training. Before you can benefit from what they have to offer, you must consider what it is that you need from them and let them know. Take opportunities to work with colleagues which will enable you to learn from them.