In August 2008 the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) awarded Mr Emanuel Marques 26 weeks pay, as compensation for the unfair termination of his employment with Doltone House, a function centre in Sydney.  Mr Marques had been employed as the employer’s Venue Operations Manager.  At the hearing the employer was self-represented by one of its directors and their HR manager.  Following the hearing the company sought legal advice to discover that the AIRC had no jurisdiction to consider Mr Marques’ unfair termination claim at all.  Regardless, the AIRC has refused to revoke the compensation order.

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One of the ‘evils’ eradicated from the industrial relations system by the Work Choices reforms was the ‘unfair contracts’ jurisdiction operating in NSW and Queensland, previously available to workers of all stripes, including employees, contractors (whether companies or individuals), and other ‘arrangements’ or ‘understandings’ for the performance of work.  However, a more limited substitute jurisdiction was established by the Independent Contractors Act from March 2007, applicable only to contractors.  The Federal Magistrates Court has now had two opportunities to consider and determine claims made in the jurisdiction which, at this stage, is unaffected by the Forward with Fairness reforms.

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At the same time that the Independent Contractors Act commenced, in March 2007, the Workplace Relations Act was also amended to prohibit the promotion of ‘sham’ contracting arrangements and related behaviour.  The Workplace Ombudsman has commenced its first prosecution under the ‘sham’ contracting provisions of the Act.

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The Queensland Commissioner of State Revenue has offered a penalty amnesty for employers who have incorrectly excluded certain payments to contractors from their taxable wages for payroll tax purposes prior to 1 July 2008.

Because of the difficulty the Office of State Revenue experienced in determining whether payments under contractor arrangements were wages subject to payroll tax, the law has been changed from 1 July 2008 so that many payments to contractors will now be subject to payroll tax.

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The Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 (Qld) has been amended to give qualified workplace OH&S representatives the power to issue Provisional Infringement Notices (PINs) for alleged breaches of the Act.  While the amendments have been passed by the Parliament, they are yet to commence operation.  In addition, appropriate training and procedures to qualify OH&S reps to issue PINs are yet to be developed.  It is important for businesses to be aware of the changes and that, after commencement of the new regime, penalties may be imposed for breaches of the Act without a departmental inspector visiting the workplace.

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