此前我们发布了有关《在澳经商》总体政策及常见领域法律的文章。目前其中一些领域的情况及规定有所变化，因此我们制作了《在澳经商》系列的新版，新版的相关文章将从现在开始陆续发布。
劳资关系
介绍
在澳大利亚，几乎所有方面的雇佣关系都受到联邦法律和各州法律的管辖，包括雇佣的标准条款和条件、休假和假期、税收和养老金、歧视和工作场所的健康及安全。
一般来说，联邦的就业法律体系适用于在拥有在澳大利亚注册的分公司或在澳大利亚雇佣员工的外国公司。
公平工作法
就业相关的主要法律是2009年公平工作法 （FW法）。 FW法涵盖了澳大利亚的所有私营部分的雇员，仅在西澳大利亚州存在有限的例外。
最低安全网络条件
在FW法中颁布的全国就业标准 （NES） 规定了就业的条款和条件方面的最低标准（或“安全网络”），适用于联邦立法体系内的所有员工。 下文概述了10个NES:
每周最长工作时间： 雇主不得要求雇员每周工作超过38小时，除非额外时间是合理的。
要求弹性工作安排： 如果员工负有照料责任、或这是老年人或残疾人、或正在经历家庭暴力、或需要照顾家人或家庭中的家庭暴力的受害者，则员工有权要求灵活的安排工作时间。雇主只能有“合理的商业理由”才能拒绝此类要求。
产假: 新生儿父母可以每人申请不超过12个月的不带薪假期。 联邦政府有一项带薪育儿假计划，对于休产假的父母，可以向负有主要护理责任的休假员工按照最低工资支付不超过18个星期的工资，并向其同时休产假但不负有主要护理责任的配偶按照最低工资支付多达2个星期的工资。
年假： 员工每年有权享有4个星期的带薪年假。对于兼职员工，此假期应按实际工作时间比例计算。轮班工人每年有权享有5个星期的带薪年假。
个人/护理假期： 员工每年有权享有合计10天的带薪个人假期（病假）和护理假期。员工同时还享有带薪丧假和不带薪护理假期。
社区服务假： 员工在开展社区服务活动时享有带薪假期，例如陪审团服务和应急服务责任。
长期服务休假： 长期服务假期按照适用的州法律计算。联邦政府计划在未来实施一项国家长期服务休假制度，用以规定统一的长期服务休假权利。
公共假日： 员工有权在规定的公共假日享受休假。在公共假日没有上班的员工有权按照其正常上班所赢得的工资水平获得工资。
解雇通知和遣散费: 雇主不得解除员工的劳动关系，除非已经在必要的期限内提前向员工发出了通知，或除非向员工支付一定金额的工资，以代替上述解雇通知。 如果雇主不需要任何人替代承担某员工的工作而终止该员工的劳动关系被，则该员工有权获得遣散费。遣散费的金额见NES中的相关规定。
公平工作信息声明： 新员工开始工作后，其雇主必须尽快向员工提供公平工作信息声明。该声明由澳大利亚公平工作委员会颁布，其中包含FW法中规定的关于雇佣条款和条件的基本信息。
工资标准
工资标准是法定文件，其中包含适用于大多数从事特定行业工作的员工适用的最低条款和条件。工资标准的条款和条件是对NES中相关条款的补充，雇主需要确保熟知任何可能适用于其员工的工资标准。
集体劳资协议
集体劳资协议是包含关于一个员工群体的条款和条件的协议，通常是受雇于同意雇主的员工群体。集体劳资协议是雇主和员工之间通过协商达成的，协商可以由员工直接参与，也可以通过协商代表进行，例如工会。
个人雇佣合同
雇主和员工个人之间也可以签订一份个人雇佣合同。合同条款必须符合NES、工资标准和集体劳资协议中规定的最低就业标准。个人合同通常涉及额外的未包含在NES以及适用工资标准或集体劳资协议中的条款和条件。可能涉及的条款和条件包括奖金、牺牲工资来支付养老金和劳动期限结束后的限制。
潜在的雇佣索赔
不公平解雇： FW法规定了某些员工被解雇后进行上诉的机制，前提是该员工是在苛刻的、不公平的或不合理的情况下被“不公平解雇”的。如果员工在不公平解雇索赔中胜诉，则其可以恢复工作并获得全额工资补偿，或获得金额不超过六个月工资的赔偿。
一般保护： 如果雇主对员工因为具有工作场所权利、行使了工作场所权利或意图行使工作场所权利而对员工有“报复行为”，员工可以根据FW法中的一般保护条款提起诉讼。报复行为诉讼也可以由准雇员和独立承包人展开，且不限于终止雇佣关系或合同。
歧视： 除了根据FW法提起一般保护索赔，员工也可以根据联邦或州反歧视法对其雇主或前雇主提出歧视索赔。如果该员工与其他员工相比，由于其年龄、种族、宗教、性别、性取向、存在或发现残疾等原因被不公正对待，此类索赔将获得成功。
其他可能的索赔：如果违反雇佣合同或该雇佣存在误导及欺诈行为，还可以根据联邦竞争和消费者保护法提出索赔。
工作场所的健康和安全
澳大利亚拥有完善的州级工作场所健康和安全制度，该制度要求雇主确保其员工和进入该雇主的工作场所的其他人的安全和健康。
健康和安全检查员有权检查任何工作场所，以确保雇主遵守其工作场所的健康和安全义务。如果违反工作场所健康和安全义务，雇主，包括董事及管理人员，将面临检控。并可以施以多达$160万元的罚款及监禁。
歧视
除了FW法的一般保护条款中对于歧视的禁令，联邦和州级还存在反歧视法，以禁止某些与招聘、雇佣条款及条件、解雇以及获得晋升和培训的机会等方面有关的歧视性规定。
提起歧视索赔的理由是广泛的。比较常见的诉讼理由包括残疾、年龄、性别和种族，另外还有民族血统、政治观点、性别认同、犯罪记录和医疗记录等方面的歧视索赔。
养老金
根据澳大利亚实行的强制性养老金担保计划，雇主必须为其雇员支付养老金。根据1992年（联邦）养老金担保费法，所有雇主必须向一个复合规定的养老金基金支付养老金 （目前是按照员工正常收入的9.5%至最高缴费基数）。 如果雇主未能为员工支付，或支付金额不足，雇主将承担养老金保障费用的法律责任。
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【Doing Business in Australia 2015】VI — Workplace Relations
Our readers may have already read our "Doing Business in Australia" series of articles posted before. Recently quite a few relevant facts and policies have been updated. Hence we have produced a new version. You will be able to receive the updated articles about "Doing Business in Australia" in the coming weeks.
Company Administration
Introduction
In Australia, both federal and state laws govern nearly all aspects of the employment relationship, including the standard terms and conditions of employment, leave and holidays, tax and superannuation, discrimination and workplace health and safety.
In general, the federal system of employment laws will apply to foreign companies who have a subsidiary which is registered in, or employs people in, Australia.
Fair Work Act
The principal law relating to employment is the Fair Work Act 2009 (FW Act). The FW Act covers all private sector employees in Australia, with a limited exception in Western Australia.
Minimum Safety Net Conditions
The National Employment Standards (NES) found in the FW Act provide the minimum standards (or “safety net”) in respect of the terms and conditions of employment that apply to all employees covered by the federal legislation. There are 10 NES which are summarised below:
Maximum weekly hours: an employer must not require an employee to work more than 38 hours per week unless the additional hours are reasonable.
Requests for flexible working arrangements: employees have a right to request flexible working hours if they have carer responsibilities, or are elderly or have a disability, or are experiencing family violence, or need to care for a victim of family violence in the employee’s family or household. An employer can only decline the request on ‘reasonable business grounds’.
Parental leave: new parents can each take a maximum of 12 months of unpaid parental leave. The federal government has a Paid Parental Leave Scheme which offers up to 18 weeks pay at the minimum wage to employees on parental leave with primary carer responsibilities plus up to two weeks pay at minimum wage for partners who are also taking parental leave but are not the primary caregiver.
Annual leave: employees are entitled to four weeks’ paid annual leave for each year of service. This is pro-rated for part-time employees. Shift workers are entitled to five weeks’ paid annual leave for each year of service.
Personal/carer’s leave: employees are entitled to a total of 10 days’ paid personal (sick leave) and carer’s leave for each year of service. Employees are also entitled to paid compassionate leave and unpaid carer’s leave.
Community service leave: employees are entitled to unpaid leave to undertake community service activities such as jury service and emergency service duties.
Long service leave: long service leave continues to accrue in accordance with applicable state legislation. The federal government plans to implement a national long service leave system in the future to provide for nationally consistent long service leave entitlements.
Public holidays: an employee is entitled to be absent from work on prescribed public holidays. An employee who is absent from work on a public holiday will be entitled to payment at their base rate of pay for the ordinary hours that would have been worked.
Notice of termination and redundancy pay: an employer must not terminate an employee’s employment unless they have given the employee the necessary period of written notice, or unless they have paid the employee an amount of salary in lieu of that notice period. Employees are entitled to redundancy pay where their employment is terminated because the employer no longer requires their job to be done by anyone. The amount of redundancy pay is prescribed in the NES.
Fair Work Information Statement: employers are required to give new employees the Fair Work Information Statement as soon as practicable after they start work. The Statement is published by Fair Work Australia and contains general information about the terms and conditions of employment under the FW Act.
Awards
Awards are statutory instruments which contain the minimum terms and conditions that apply to most employees working in the particular industries to which they apply. The terms and conditions contained in awards are supplementary to those contained in the NES and employers need to ensure they are familiar with any awards that may apply to their employees.
Enterprise Agreements
Enterprise Agreements are agreements that contain the terms and conditions of a group of employees, usually employed by the same employer. Enterprise Agreements are negotiated between the employer and its employees, either directly or through bargaining representatives such as an employee union.
Individual Employment Contracts
An employer and an individual employee may also enter into an individual employment contract. Contracted conditions are subject to the minimum employment standards provided under the NES, awards and enterprise agreements. Individual contracts will usually address additional terms and conditions to those contained in the NES plus applicable awards or enterprise agreements. The terms and conditions that may be addressed include bonuses, salary sacrificing arrangements and restraints relating to after the employment period.
Potential Employment Claims
Unfair dismissal: the FW Act provides a mechanism for certain employees to challenge the termination of their employment by claiming there has been an ’unfair dismissal’ on the basis that the termination was harsh, unjust or unreasonable in the circumstances. If an employee is successful in bringing an unfair dismissal claim, they can be reinstated with full back pay or may receive up to six months’ remuneration as compensation.
General protections: an employee may bring an action under the general protection provision of the FW Act if the employer takes ‘adverse action’ against the employee because they have a workplace right, have exercised a workplace right or propose to exercise a workplace right. Adverse action claims can also be commenced by prospective employees and independent contractors and are not limited to termination of employment or contract situations.
Discrimination: in addition to a general protections claim under the FW Act, an employee may also bring a discrimination claim against their employer or former employer under federal or state anti-discrimination legislation. Such a claim will be successful if the employee has been treated less favourably than others because of, for instance, their age, race, religion, sex, sexual preference or the existence or perceived existence of a disability.
Other possible claims: claims can also exist for breach of the employment contract or misleading and deceptive conduct in relation to the employment under the Federal Competition and Consumer Law Act.
Workplace Health and Safety
Australia has a comprehensive workplace health and safety regime, which operates at the state level and requires employers to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of their employees and other people who attend the employer’s workplace.
Health and safety inspectors are given power to inspect any workplace to ensure that the employer is complying with their workplace health and safety obligations. Breaches of workplace health and safety obligations expose employers, including directors and managerial staff, to prosecution. Fines of up to $1.6 million and imprisonment can be imposed.
Discrimination
In addition to the prohibition against discrimination under the general protections provisions in the FW Act, there is anti-discrimination legislation at both the federal and state level that prohibits discrimination on prescribed grounds in relation to, for instance, recruitment, the terms and conditions of employment, dismissal of an employee and access to promotion and training opportunities.
The grounds upon which a person may bring a discrimination claim are broad. As well as the more commonly litigated grounds of disability, age, sex and race, claims can also be brought for discrimination on the basis of national extraction, political opinion, gender identity, criminal records and medical records.
Superannuation
In accordance with the compulsory superannuation guarantee scheme that operates in Australia, an employer must make superannuation contributions for their employees. Under the Superannuation Guarantee Charge Act 1992 (Cth), all employers are required to make compulsory superannuation contributions (currently 9.5% of an employee’s ordinary time earnings, up to a maximum contribution base) to a complying superannuation fund. If an employer fails to make, or makes insufficient, contributions for an employee, the employer will incur a superannuation guarantee charge liability.
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Business set up in Australia, business structures,company administration, etc.
Background information of Australia, including Australian government, legal system, and business structures, etc.
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