Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I moved Greens amendment (3) on sheet 5449:

(3)    Schedule 1, item 2, page 9 (after line 25), after subsection 346G(1), insert:

     (1A)    An employer who makes an application under subsection (1) must provide a copy of the application to the relevant employee or employees, as the case may be, within seven days of making the application.

This relates to employees being informed. We believe employees should be informed of the designated award that is being applied. Under new section 346G employers can apply to the Workplace Authority for a particular award to be the designated award. The designated award becomes the award an agreement is tested against and therefore has a direct effect on whether the wages and conditions in an agreement are fair. The designated award could affect the level of take-home pay for an employee depending on what conditions have been bargained with—that is, if an award contains a particularly penalty rate or not. It seems fair that, given the importance of the designated agreement to employees, they be informed which award the employer is proposing. We believe this is a question of natural justice and that employees have a right to be actually properly informed of decisions that directly affect them. We do not actually see why this should not be in the act.