Subjects 2009
Regulating Working Conditions (formerly Labour Relations Law) 730828
- Credited Courses: Graduate Diploma in Construction Law 189; Graduate Diploma in Labour Relations Law 188; Graduate Diploma in Legal Studies L08; Master of Construction Law 195; Master of Labour Relations Law 510; Master of Laws (LLM) 502; Master of Laws (LLM) 502
Prerequisite
It is recommended that students without a law degree from a common law jurisdiction have completed Employment Law.
Objectives
A student who has successfully completed this subject should:
- Have an understanding of the historical origins and continuing importance of the federal system of conciliation and arbitration as a means of setting minimum working conditions
- Be able to apply, at an advanced level, relevant legal principles to problem-solving exercises
- Understand the different means of setting and maintaining minimum working conditions, and be able to evaluate them using historical, practical and theoretical perspectives, in particular using elements of regulation theory
- Have sound knowledge of emerging issues in working conditions and how they might best be regulated
- Demonstrate an understanding of the development of Australian labour relations law in an international context.
Syllabus
Principal topics will include:
- The way that the Australian Constitution shapes the legal mechanisms that are used to regulate working conditions, including the historical origins and purposes of conciliation and arbitration and the scope of the corporation’s power
- The institutions that regulate working conditions, including the Australian Fair Pay Commission, Offeringsthe Australian Industrial Relations Commission, the Office of the Employment Advocate and the Office of Workplace Services
- The form, function and content of awards of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission
- The role of awards and the Australian Fair Pay Standard as a means of maintaining a safety net of fair working conditions
- The relationship of awards and the Australian Fair Pay Standard to other means of regulating working conditions, including the contract of employment and legislative standards
- Recent developments in setting new minimum working conditions
- The maintenance of minimum conditions in the case of business restructuring and through enforcement
- The Victorian system for maintaining fair basic working conditions
- Emerging issues in regulating working conditions, including employee entitlements, the rights of casual and part-time workers, and regulating the work–life balance.
