An Act relating to workplace
relations, and for related
purposes
Chapter 1—Introduction
Part 1-1—Introduction
Division 1—Preliminary
1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the
Fair Work Act 2009.
2 Commencement
(1) Each provision of this Act
specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken
to have commenced, in
accordance with column 2 of
the table. Any other statement
in column 2 has effect
according to its terms.
(2) Column 3 of the table
contains additional information
that is not part of this Act.
Information in this column may
be added to or edited in any
published version of this Act.
Division 2—Object of this Act
3 Object of this Act
The object of this Act is to
provide a balanced framework
for cooperative and productive
workplace relations that promotes national economic
prosperity and social inclusion
for all Australians by:
(a) providing workplace
relations laws that are fair to
working Australians, are
flexible for businesses,
promote productivity and
economic growth for
Australia’s future economic
prosperity and take into
account Australia’s
international labour
obligations; and
(b) ensuring a guaranteed
safety net of fair, relevant
and enforceable minimum
terms and conditions through
the National Employment
Standards, modern awards
and national minimum wage
orders; and
(c) ensuring that the
guaranteed safety net of fair,
relevant and enforceable
minimum wages and
conditions can no longer be
undermined by the making of
statutory individual
employment agreements of
any kind given that such
agreements can never be part
of a fair workplace relations
system; and
(d) assisting employees to
balance their work and family
responsibilities by providing for flexible working
arrangements; and
(e) enabling fairness and
representation at work and
the prevention of
discrimination by recognising
the right to freedom of
association and the right to
be represented, protecting
against unfair treatment and
discrimination, providing
accessible and effective
procedures to resolve
grievances and disputes and
providing effective
compliance mechanisms; and
(f) achieving productivity and
fairness through an emphasis
on enterprise-level collective
bargaining underpinned by
simple good faith bargaining
obligations and clear rules
governing industrial action;
and
(g) acknowledging the special
circumstances of small and
medium-sized businesses
Division 3—Guide to this Act
4 Guide to this Act
Overview of this Act
(1) This Act is about
workplace relations. It:
(a) provides for terms and
conditions of employment
(Chapter 2); and
(b) sets out rights and
responsibilities of employees,
employers and organisations
in relation to that
employment (Chapter 3); and
(c) provides for compliance
with, and enforcement of, this
Act (Chapter 4); and
(d) provides for the
administration of this Act by
establishing the Fair Work
Commission and the Office of
the Fair Work Ombudsman
(Chapter 5); and
(e) deals with other matters
relating to the above
(Chapter 6).
Overview of the rest of this
Chapter
(2) The rest of this Chapter
deals with:
(a) definitions that are used in
this Act (Part 1-2); and
(b) the application of this Act
(Part 1-3), including how this
Act interacts with certain
State and Territory laws and
its geographical application.
Definitions
(3) Many of the terms in this
Act are defined. The
Dictionary in section 12
contains a list of every term
that is defined in this Act.
Application, saving and
transitional provisions for
amendments
(4) Schedule 1 contains
application, saving and
transitional provisions relating
to amendments of this Act.
5 Terms and conditions of
employment (Chapter 2)
(1) Chapter 2 provides for
terms and conditions of
employment of national system
employees.
(2) Part 2-1 has the core
provisions for the Chapter. It
deals with compliance with,
and interaction between, the
sources of the main terms and
conditions provided under this
Act—the National Employment
Standards, modern awards and
enterprise agreements.
Note: Workplace determinations are
another source of main terms and
conditions. In most cases, this Act
applies to a workplace determination as
if it were an enterprise agreement in
operation (see
section 279).
Main terms and conditions
(3) Part 2-2 contains the
National Employment
Standards, which are minimum
terms and conditions that apply
to all national system
employees.
(4) Part 2-3 is about modern
awards. A modern award is
made for a particular industry
or occupation and provides
additional minimum terms and
conditions for those national
system employees to whom it
applies. A modern award can
have terms that are ancillary
or supplementary to the
National Employment
Standards.
(5) Part 2-4 is about
enterprise agreements. An
enterprise agreement is made
at the enterprise level and
provides terms and conditions
for those national system
employees to whom it applies.
An enterprise agreement can
have terms that are ancillary
or supplementary to
the National Employment
Standards.
(6) Part 2-5 is about
workplace determinations. A
workplace determination
provides terms and conditions
for those national system
employees to whom it applies.
A workplace determination is
made by the FWC if certain
conditions are met.
(7) Part 2-8 provides for the
transfer of certain modern
awards, enterprise
agreements, workplace determinations and other
instruments if there is a
transfer of business from one
national system employer to
another national system
employer.
Other terms and conditions
(8) In addition, other terms and
conditions of employment for
national system employees
include those:
(a) provided by a national
minimum wage order (see
Part 2-6) or an equal
remuneration order (see Part
2-7); and
(b) provided by Part 2-9
(which deals with the
frequency and method of
making payments to
employees, deductions from
payments and high-income
employees).
6 Rights and responsibilities of
employees, employers,
organisations etc. (Chapter 3)
(1) Chapter 3 sets out rights
and responsibilities of national
system employees, national
system employers,
organisations and others (such
as independent contractors and
industrial associations).
(2) Part 3-1 provides general
workplace protections. It:
(a) protects workplace rights;
and
(b) protects freedom of
association and involvement
in lawful industrial activities;
and
(c) provides other protections,
including protection from
discrimination.
(3) Part 3-2 deals with unfair
dismissal of national system
employees, and the granting of
remedies when that happens.
(4) Part 3-3 deals mainly with
industrial action by national
system employees and national
system employers and sets out
when industrial action is
protected industrial action. No
action lies under any law in
force in a State or Territory in
relation to protected industrial
action except in certain
circumstances.
(5) Part 3-4 is about the rights
of officials of organisations
who hold entry permits to
enter premises for purposes
related to their representative
role under this Act and under
State or Territory OHS laws. In
exercising those rights, permit
holders must comply with the
requirements set out in the
Part.
(6) Part 3-5 allows a national
system employer to stand down a national system
employee without pay in
certain circumstances.
(7) Part 3-6 deals with other
rights and responsibilities of
national system employers in
relation to:
(a) termination of employment;
and
(b) keeping records and giving
payslips.
(8) Part 3-7 deals with
offences in relation to
corrupting benefits.
7 Compliance and enforcement
(Chapter 4)
(1) Chapter 4 provides for
compliance with, and
enforcement of, this Act.
(2) Part 4-1 is about civil
remedies. Certain provisions in
this Act impose obligations on
certain persons. Civil remedies
may be sought in relation to
contraventions of these civil
remedy provisions. Part 4-1:
(a) deals with applications for
orders for contraventions of
civil remedy provisions; and
(b) sets out the orders the
courts can make in relation to
a contravention of a civil
remedy provision.
(3) Part 4-2 is about the
jurisdiction and powers of the
courts in relation to matters arising under this Act.
8 Administration (Chapter 5)
(1) Chapter 5 provides for the
administration of this Act by
establishing the Fair Work
Commission and the Office of
the Fair Work Ombudsman.
(2) Part 5-1 is about the Fair
Work Commission. It:
(a) establishes and confers
functions on the FWC; and
(b) sets out how matters
before the FWC are to be
conducted (for example, how
the FWC is to deal with
applications made to it).
(3) Part 5-2 is about the Office
of the Fair Work Ombudsman.
It:
(a) establishes and confers
functions on the Fair Work
Ombudsman; and
(b) confers functions and
powers on Fair Work
Inspectors.
9 Miscellaneous (Chapter 6)
(1) Chapter 6 is a collection of
miscellaneous matters that
relate to the other Chapters.
(2) Part 6-1 provides rules
relating to applications for
remedies under this Act. It
prevents certain applications if
other remedies are available
and prevents multiple applications or complaints in
relation to the same conduct.
(3) Part 6-2 is about dealing
with disputes between national
system employees and their
employers under modern
awards, enterprise agreements
and contracts of employment.
(4) Part 6-3 extends the
National Employment
Standards relating to unpaid
parental leave and notice of
termination to non-national
system employees.
(4A) Part 6-3A provides for
the transfer of terms and
conditions of employment that
are provided for in particular
State industrial instruments if
there is a transfer of business
from a non-national system
employer that is a State public
sector employer of the State to
a national system employer.
(5) Part 6-4 contains
provisions to give effect, or
further effect, to certain
international agreements
relating to termination of
employment.
(5A) Part 6-4A contains
special provisions about TCF
outworkers.
(5B) Part 6-4B allows a
worker who has been bullied at
work to apply to the FWC for
an order to stop the bullying.
(6) Part 6-5 deals with
miscellaneous matters such as
delegations and regulations.
9A Application, transitional and
saving provisions for
amendments
(Schedules)
The Schedules contain
application, transitional and
saving provisions relating to
amendments of this Act.
Note: Application, transitional and
saving provisions relating to the
enactment of this Act, and States
becoming referring States, are in the
Transitional Act.
Part 1-2—Definitions
Division 1—Introduction
10 Guide to this Part
This Part is about the terms
that are defined in this Act.
Division 2 has the Dictionary
(see section 12). The
Dictionary is a list of every
term that is defined in this Act.
A term will either be defined in
the Dictionary itself, or in
another provision of this Act. If
another provision defines the
term, the Dictionary will have
a signpost to that definition.
Division 3 has definitions relating to the meanings of
employee and employer.
Division 4 has some other
definitions that apply across
this Act.
11 Meanings of employee and
employer
In this Part, employee and
employer have their ordinary
meanings.
Note: See also Division 2 of Part 6-4A
(TCF contract outworkers taken to be
employees in certain circumstances).
