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Course

Workplace Law - JURD7339

Faculty: Faculty of Law

School: Faculty of Law

Course Outline: See below

Campus: Sydney

Career: Postgraduate

Units of Credit: 6

EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)

Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 2

Enrolment Requirements:

Pre-requisite: 36 UOC of JURD courses for students enrolled prior to 2013. For students enrolled after 2013, pre-requisite: 72 UOC of JURD courses.

Excluded: LAWS8239

CSS Contribution Charge: 3 (more info)

Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule

Further Information: See Class Timetable

View course information for previous years.

Description

Workplace Law examines the regulatory regime created by the Federal Fair Work Act 2009, a statute of both continuity and innovation in its approach to workplace relations. This course commences by framing the new law in the context of both international labour standards and comparative systems, and then proceeds to examine its key features, institutions and processes, with a firm emphasis on the dynamics and regulation of the bargaining process.


Recommended Prior Knowledge

A basic knowledge of Australian employment law.

Course Objectives

This course aims to give students:
  • an appreciation of the social, political and economic context of workplace relations laws;
  • an international and comparative perspective for evaluating the centrepiece Australian statute governing workplace relations, the Fair Work Act 2009;
  • a conceptual framework for understanding the Act;
  • a working knowledge of the key dynamics of workplace rights and especially workplace bargaining as regulated by the Act;
  • a good grasp of the developing case law on the new legislation.

Main Topics

  • International and comparative labour law perspectives as a prelude to any consideration of the Fair Work Act and its sponsored bargaining process
  • The claims of the statute as expressed in its objects (“to provide a balanced framework for cooperative and productive relations”) measured against the machinery it creates
  • The base of statutory rights represented by National Employment Standards, Modern Awards and “general protections”
  • The minimum wage regime
  • The dynamics of a unique formula on workplace bargaining, characterised by, amongst other things, an enterprise level focus, collective rights for employees, an agency role for unions, limited right of entry provisions, good faith bargaining obligations, a limited right to take industrial action, mediation and limited arbitration
  • The supervisory roles of Fair Work Australia and the Fair Work Ombudsman
  • Transfers of business
  • The developing jurisprudence

Assessment

 
Class attendance and participation: 20%
Class presentation:  20%
Essay: 60%
 

Course Texts

Prescribed

  • None. Articles and cases for this course will be available on Blackboard prior to the commencement of the semester. Refer to the course outline for further details.
Recommended
  • B Creighton & A Stewart, Labour Law (5 ed or latest, Federation Press)
  • A Bronstein, International and Comparative Labour Law – Current Challenges (Palgrave MacMillan, International Labour Organisation, 2009)
  • A Forsyth & A Stewart (eds) Fair Work – the New Workplace Laws and the Work Choices Legacy (The Federation Press, 2009)

Further Information

The course is usually run in an intensive format to suit, especially, students in legal practice. There is usually an initial introductory and framing session of two hours, followed by four full days spaced a week apart (usually Fridays).
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Study Levels

Undergraduate Study Postgraudate Study Postgraduate Research Study Non-Award Study

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