ARTICLE · 21 FEBRUARY 2012

Right Of Entry For Unions - Best Practice Guide

DLA Piper Australia

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The Fair Work Act provides rights of entry for unions and potentially provides unions with a powerful recruiting weapon.

AustraliaEmployment and HR

Rick Catanzariti

Allan Drake-Brockman

The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) provides significant rights of entry (ROE) for unions and potentially provides unions with a powerful recruiting weapon.

OVERVIEW

There are three types of ROE for union officials seeking to enter 'workplaces' under the FW Act:

to hold discussions with employees whose interests the union is entitled to represent
to investigate suspected contraventions of the FW Act, industrial instruments and like instruments
to investigate state occupational health and safety (OHS) matters.

Important Note - The term used to describe a workplace in the FW Act is by way of the definition of 'premises', which is broadly defined as 'any land, building, structure, mine, mine working, aircraft, ship, vessel, vehicle or place'.

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