Redundancy, Retirement, Retraining and Apprenticeship

Apprenticeships

Apprenticeships are covered as contract of service

Terms and Conditions Industrial and Commercial Training Act

1989 (NSW) Benefits for Parties Apprenticeship Committees Technological Advances

Case Study:

Condell Park Factory Details Joel Exner Details Compensation

The Impact of Technology on the Workplace

Increases efficiency of the rate at which a role is performed

Reduces the complexity of particular jobs

Improved working conditions Improved occupational safety in

formerly dangerous occupations Altered work patterns due to increased

contractibility

Negative Impact of Technology

Occupational overuse syndrome- a condition caused by the repetition of motions performed in the workplace (e.g. persistent use of a computer)

An increase in the prevalence of redundancies as technology often replaces the labour element of a role

Infringement on personal liberty

Redundancy

Redundancy occurs when an employee is dismissed as a result of the work for a particular position no longer being available

A primary cause of redundancy is the advancement in

technology to perform particular roles at a more efficient rate than capable of a human

Workplace Relations Act 1997 (Cwlth)

Requires than an employee notify the Commonwealth Department of Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business if they intend on making fifteen or more workers redundant

Required to provide details regarding the reasons for the redundancy, number of employees affected and amount of notice provided.

An employee who has been made redundant is entitled to severance pay

The minimum amounts of redundancy to be paid are outlined in the Workplace Relations Act 1996

WorkChoices: redundancy pay is no longer an allowable matter if an employer has less than fifteen employees

Voluntary redundancy is offered by an employer to allow an employee to choose to be made redundant

This is a financially beneficial option to those who are close to retirement or whose labour is in high demand

An employer may offer a higher severance pay than required in order to encourage workers to leave

Employment Protection Act 1982 (NSW)

Requires that companies give advanced warning of redundancy to the NSWIRC

→ required to conciliate any dispute concerning dismissals for redundancy and award severance benefits

NSWIRC may include employment protection provisions within an award

Some companies are unable to adequately prepare for the possibility of their employees being made redundant

→ HIH collapsed in 2001: thousands of workers were left redundant without receiving redundancy payments

Retraining

There is a growing requirement for employees to enhance and update their skills and knowledge as technological change is continuous within the workplace

→often achieved through attending a training course

If the role of an individual has been replaced by mechanisation, they may be required to retrain for a new job

The retraining of existing staff for new roles as opposed to the employment of individuals with new skills is prevalent within the workplace

The retirement happens mostly due to the employees’ ages (usually 65(men), 60(women))

Anti-Discrimination Act 1977(NSW) Prohibits employers forcing their employees to retire due to their age

People with mental or physical disability can be lawfully dismissed by the employers

Eg) Pilots

Federal legislation has set the maximum age for certain occupations in awards and in legislation

Technological change: Due to the development of

medical technology, people started to live longer which resulted in people working beyond the traditional ‘retiring age’.

Some legislations have combated this with superannuation

The Tri-star incident, 2001

Tri-star, a car component making company, supplies the most of the car manufacturers in Australia.

It refused to sign an agreement that protects the entitlement of the employees even if when the business ever went bankrupt which

resulted in those employees going on strike in protest.

Tri-star failed to produce goods and production in the car factories ceased which resulted in the manufacturers losing several million dollars every day.

Tri-star stood down thousands of employees from the idle production plants; under the award the companies had the right to do this.

Justice: The Tri-Star Incident

Fairness – Tri-star had refused to sign the agreement that protected the entitlement of employees; however, the law allowed this company to do so which was unfair

Justice

Areas where Justice is seen: - Fairness – Individuals compensation- Fairness – Workplace relations Act 1996(Cwlth)- Employers are re-training employees rather than

making them redundant Justice is not seen:- Equality - Lawful Dismissal - Human Rights/Fairness – Condell Park incident

and Exner- negligence and lack of protection- Equality – Younger people Technology - Fairness – Bankruptcy and Market Failure

Effectiveness

Access – Apprenticeships Fairness – Apprenticeships Individual Human Rights – Retirement (unfair

dismissal) Fairness – Retirement (medical technology- rising

life expectancy, increase in pension) -Exner apprenticeship- protection Reflection of Community – Retraining (failure to

train causes structural unemployment- poverty) Resource Efficiency – Retraining (CentreLink and

Job Network- reduce natural rate of unemployment)

TH

E E

ND

Thank you