Jennifer Mills: Director and Head of Practice at Jennifer Mills & Associates on the Government's new Employment Relations Amendment Bill

The Government has unveiled new changes for Employment Relations Act aimed at improving labour market flexibility - but it's raised some concerns.

One of the proposed changes includes introducing an income threshold of $180,000 above which a personal grievance for unjustified dismissal cannot be pursued.

Director and Head of Practice at Jennifer Mills & Associates, Jennifer Mills, says this threshold seems 'arbitrary'.

"I would have thought that all employees would have the right to access these grievance protections - what's worse is somebody who earns over $180,000 doesn't have a right to have any information about the decision to terminate their employment and they don't even have an opportunity to respond to a proposal."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
New changes to the Employment Relations Act have been announced
to Parliament today and it includes employees earning over one
hundred and eighty thousand dollars losing their right to file
a personal grievance for unjustified dismissal. Now to took us
through this, we have employment specialist Jennifer Mills from Jennifer
Mills and Associates Jennifer.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hello, Hi Heather.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
What has caused that? Why do we need that particular change?

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Well? I think that this proposed change in their amendment
bill is arbitrary. Identifying a line in the sand with
somebody who's earning one hundred and eighty thousand to remove
their protections under the dismissal suite of dismissal mechanisms under
the Act is strange.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
I would have.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Thought that all employees would have the right to access
these grievance protections. What's worse is that somebody who earns
over one hundred and eighty thousand doesn't have a right
to have any information about the dis to terminate their employment,
and they don't even have an opportunity to respond to

(01:05):
a proposal to terminate their employment. It seems harsh to me,
and what it will end up meaning is that people
will be preparing different types of claims. They'll have breach
of contract claims, breach of statutory duty claims and discrimination claims.
So there'll just be a backdoorway for these people to
have protections against unfair treatment.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
The experience in Australia, apparently because they've already done this,
the experience in Australia has been that litigation has increased,
so you would expect the same thing to happen here.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah, absolutely right. This is based on the Australian model law.
And my colleagues in Australia tell me that the pressure
release or the pressure valve if you like, is through
discrimination claims, and I would expect that those are the
sorts of claims that will be drafting. We've most recently
seen an increase in the awards for discrimination claims out

(02:00):
of the Human Rights Tribunal. In any event, so perhaps
it'll be an opportunity for those senior employees to have
greater claims, to be able to file proceedings in the
separate jurisdiction.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
It sounds like I asked the Minister's office today, this
is Brook van Valden's office. You know why they're doing it.
They say the change will help provide business confidence in
hiring will. And it's hard to know whether what they
mean by that is because they will take chances on
younger people because they know they can just get rid
of them, or whether it is about actually firing the
older guys and bringing the younger people up through the rungs.

(02:34):
What do you think is going on?

Speaker 2 (02:37):
I suspect it will be the younger folks won't be
starting on one hundred and eighty thousand. I suspect it'll
be the more senior folks have been in the role
or in the organization for longer, and it will certainly
increase turn and turnover. And it's because the economy is
in a dire situation. In any event, you wouldn't want

(03:00):
to be as an employee. You wouldn't want to have
your role at risk. It almost feels like employment at will.
And that's not our history that you know. We don't
come from that place. We're not based in the US,
and I believe that we need these protections for all employees.
The good news, though, is that these employees can negotiate

(03:22):
with their employers to include the unjustified unjustified dismissal protections
should they want them?

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Well, but that's people who enter employment contracts after this, right,
anybody who's already an employment contracts slightly stuffed, doren't they?

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Well, no, you can still negotiate. There's a twelve month
transition period for those who already have employment agreements, but
they can still negotiate to retain those protections. And I
would have thought those are the employees who are more
likely to be able to negotiate retaining those protections.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
Hey, can ask you, Jennifer, what do you make of
the thirty day change?

Speaker 2 (03:57):
The removal of the thirty day Well, that's owned to
have their unions up and arms. So that will mean
obviously that employees whose work is covered by the collective
will no longer be covered by the collective terms on
an individual basis for the first thirty days. It has
given the unions the ability to negotiate directly with those folks,

(04:18):
and it has historically given the unions a leg up.
Now there's a swing in the balance of power, it
will give employers more ability to have those employees remain
on individual employment agreements. It will be more difficult for
the unions to garner support for the union and increase

(04:40):
union membership. So I would expect over time that we
would see a decrease in union membership with this particular change.
I imagine the unions will be very, very unhappy with
this proposed change.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
Yeah, you're probably right, Jennifer. So good to talk to you.
Thank you so much, Jennifer Mills, Employment Specialist A Jennifer
Mills and Associates. For more from Heather Duplessyland, listen live
to news Talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.