Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

asked the Minister representing the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, upon notice, on 24 January 2012:

With reference to the Fair Work Ombudsman annual report for 2010 11:

(1) Does the report reference the Fair Work Ombudsman's acknowledged errors in its Wage Rate Calculator, on its website and in advice given to the public; if not, why not.

(2) (a) What performance indicators or other measurement tools are used to track these and other errors; and

  (b) if such errors are not tracked, how can the public be satisfied that the office of the Fair Work Ombudsman is improving its performance.

(3) In regard to the 'performance snapshot' on page vi, can the 825 000 calls to the Fair Work Infoline be broken down into categories, such as: employer or employee; small business or large business; legal, union, or representative roles, as opposed to individuals; if so, can this data be provided.

(4) Of the 32 000 education packs forwarded to employers, how many were:

  (a) supplied to small businesses; and

  (b) left as a result of education visits.

(5) Does the Fair Work Ombudsman engage media monitoring services; if so, at what cost.

(6) In regard to the compliance rates referred to on page 3:

  (a) does the Fair Work Ombudsman have any information suggesting that employers have accidentally or unwittingly over paid staff; and

  (b) are records kept in relation to these statistics.

(7) Given that the report states that a Fair Work Ombudsman employee received a Public Service Medal for 'creating an online tool that helps employees calculate how much they should be paid', can the Minister confirm that problems with the calculator were not with the tool itself, but with the information that was input by others.

(8) In regard to the pie graph on page 41, titled 'Breakdown of attributes of alleged discrimination complaints received in 2010 11', can a list be provided detailing how many of these alleged discrimination complaints were valid, including a break-down as per the categories presented in the pie chart.