EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Select Legislative Instrument 2007 No. 216
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations
Workplace Relations Act 1996
Workplace Relations Amendment Regulations 2007 (No. 3)
Section 846 of the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (the Act) provides (in part) that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed, for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
The Workplace Relations Amendment (A Stronger Safety Net) Act 2007 (the Safety Net Act) recently amended the Act and introduced Division 3A, subsections 154A to 154D, in relation to the Workplace Relations Fact Sheet (Fact Sheet). Subsection 154A(1) requires the Workplace Authority Director to gazette a Fact Sheet setting out information about the Australian Fair Pay and Conditions Standard, protected award conditions, the fairness test and the roles of the Workplace Authority Director and the Workplace Ombudsman. The Fact Sheet will be gazetted on 20 July 2007.
Subsection 154B(1) requires an employer to take reasonable steps to provide each new employee with a copy of the Fact Sheet within seven days of commencing employment.
As a transitional measure, section 154C also requires employers to take reasonable steps to provide each existing employee with a copy of the Fact Sheet within three months of it first being gazetted.
Subsection 154A(3) of the Act specifically authorises regulations to be made as to the manner of providing the Fact Sheet. Regulations may also prescribe other matters relating to the content, form or manner of providing the Fact Sheet.
The Regulations amend the Workplace Relations Regulations 2006 to clarify the manner by which the Fact Sheet may be provided by an employer to an employee, including by electronic and non-electronic means. The list is not exhaustive and the Regulations would not prevent an employer from using another manner of providing a copy of the Fact Sheet to an employee.
The regulation making power provided in Division 3A provides the ability to deal comprehensively with the manner of providing the Fact Sheet to employees.
To the extent that the Electronic Transactions Act 1999 may apply to the provision of the Fact Sheet to employees, the Regulations authorise some forms of electronic provision, displacing any requirements of the Electronic Transactions Act 1999.
Details of the Regulations are set out in the Attachment.
The Regulations are a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.
The Regulations commenced on 20 July 2007.
ATTACHMENT
Details of the Workplace Relations Amendment Regulations 2007 (No. 3)
Regulation 1 – Name of Regulations
This regulation provides that the title of the Regulations is the Workplace Relations Amendment Regulations 2007 (No. 3).
Regulation 2 – Commencement
This regulation provides for the Regulations to commence 20 July 2007.
Regulation 3 – Amendment of Workplace Relations Regulations 2006
This regulation provides that Schedule 1 to the Regulations amends the Workplace Relations Regulations 2006 (the Principal Regulations).
Schedule 1 – Amendment
Item [1] – Chapter 2, Part 5, after Division 3
This item inserts new Division 3A into Chapter 2, Part 5 of the Principal Regulations.
New Division 3A clarifies the manner in which a copy of the Workplace Relations Fact Sheet (the Fact Sheet) may be provided to an employee. The regulations facilitate employers fulfilling their obligations under subsections 154B(1) and 154C(1) of the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (the Act).
Paragraph 5.4(1)(a) allows for the copy of the Fact Sheet to be given to the employee personally.
Paragraph 5.4(1)(b) allows the employer to send a copy of the Fact Sheet by pre-paid post to the employee’s residential address or to a postal address nominated by the employee, including a postal box.
Paragraph 5.4(1)(c) allows for a copy of the Fact Sheet to be sent to the employee’s email address at work or to another email address nominated by the employee, for example, an email address provided to the employer for the purpose of correspondence with the employer.
Subparagraph 5.4(1)(d)(i) allows a copy of the Fact Sheet to be provided to the employee by sending an electronic link to the page of the Workplace Authority’s website on which the Fact Sheet is located to the employee’s email address at work or another email address nominated by the employee. Subparagraph 5.4(1)(d)(ii) allows for an electronic link that takes the employee directly to the copy of the Fact Sheet on the employer’s intranet to be emailed to the employee’s email address at work or to another email address nominated by the employee.
Paragraph 5.4(1)(e) allows the copy of the Fact Sheet to be provided to the employee by facsimile. Subparagraph 5.4(1)(e)(i) allows for the Fact Sheet to be sent to the employee’s facsimile number at work. Subparagraph 5.4(1)(e)(ii) provides that the copy may be sent to the employee’s facsimile number at home, while subparagraph 5.4(1)(e)(iii) allows for another facsimile number to be nominated by the employee to which the Fact Sheet may be sent.
Subregulation 5.4(2) states that subregulation (1) does not prevent an employer from using another manner of providing the copy of the Fact Sheet to an employee.