Senator Eric Abetz, Minister for Employment, has today
introduced the Fair Work Amendment Bill 2014 (the Bill).
If passed, the Bill will make amendments to the existing Fair
Work Act 2006, including changes to:
- individual flexibility arrangements
- Greenfield agreements, and
- rights of entry.
Broadly, the amendments will function to increase options
available to employers, and further encourage individualised
negotiations between employees and their employer. Unions have
already raised strong opposition to the Bill.
Individual flexibility arrangements
Under the current law, individual flexibility arrangements are
limited in scope and can only be implemented where the individual
employees will be better off overall as a result of any proposed
changes to entitlements under an award or enterprise agreement
(otherwise known as the BOOT test). The Bill does not propose to
remove the BOOT test.
