On Friday 4 May the Federal Government announced that as of Monday 7 May 2007 a new “fairness test” will apply to all federal agreements lodged with the Office of the Employment Advocate, now renamed the Workplace Authority. Under the new test if a workplace agreement seeks to modify or remove the “protected award conditions” employees must receive fair compensation for the removal or modification of such conditions.
Government statements indicate that the “fairness test” has been introduced because the Government never intended it become the norm for employers to exclude or modify protected award conditions without some form of fair compensation being provided to employees in workplace agreements.
Article courtesy of Australian Retailers Association 