This paper examines the impact of English and Australian unfair dismissal legislation on the common law rules which govern the termination of the employment contract. To explore this issue, the paper first outlines some general approaches to the interaction between statute law and the common...

This is a background paper for a project that maps the evolution of enterprise agreements in Australia through the lens of complexity/simplicity. Drawing on Peter Schuck's four features of complexity - technicality, density, differentiation and uncertainty - the project develops a...

Since the early debates about the introduction of enterprise bargaining in the late 1980s, politicians and other policymakers have consistently argued that the bargaining process should produce ‘simple' agreements. While a considerable body of empirical research has investigated the outcomes...

The 2005 reforms to the Workplace Relations Act 1996 will inevitably undermine collective bargaining, and place greater emphasis on individualised agreement-making. This article highlights various aspects of the new provisions that will substantially bolster the bargaining position of employers,...

A basic test of a labour law regime is the enforcement of minimum wage and other entitlements. This paper is concerned with the recovery of underpayments especially recovery of ‘small’ amounts by workers who are vulnerable in the marketplace. We gauge levels and quality of access to the...

In response to mounting community concern about the use of workplace agreements to erode employee conditions, the Howard Government has introduced substantial changes to the legal framework. These changes include a new Fairness Test and the rebadging of the two main institutions responsible for...

One of the principal objectives of the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cth) is to ensure that the primary responsibility for determining industrial relations outcomes rests with employers and employees. At the time of introducing the legislation, the Coalition Government made it clear that a...

The Workplace Relations Amendment (Transition to Forward with Fairness) Act 2008 (Cth) introduces three substantial reforms to the Australian workplace relations system. The first of these replaces the 'fairness test' for the assessment of statutory workplace agreements with a 'no disadvantage...

Following 13 years of Labor government at the Federal level a Liberal/National Party Coalition government was elected to office in the Australian general election of 1996. This government was subsequently re-elected in 1998, 2001, and again in 2004, before finally losing power in the 2007...