Business group slams lack of information on new IR changes with just 30 days to go

In less than a month, Australia’s industrial relations laws will undergo the second big change in six months, with the introduction of the Rudd Government’s National Employment Standards and Modern Awards regime on 1 January 2010.

But the Council of Small Business of Australia says many SMEs simply haven’t been given enough information about the changes and is calling for regulators to take a lenient approach to any breaches by SMEs that might inadvertedly breach the new rules.

COSBOA’s call for more information comes as the Fair Work Ombudsman has released a short checklist that SMEs can use to check their preparedness for the NES and modern awards.

Yet in an ironic twist, the Ombudsman has actually contributed to the delay in getting information out to employers.

One of the new employment standards calls for employers to give new employees a Fair Work Information Statement, which sets out workers’ rights and the way the new IR system operates.

The Fair Work Ombudsman has been given responsibility for creating this Information Statement, but with less than four weeks to go before the employment standards are in place, the Information Statement is still yet to be released.

“Our hope is that it will be out in the next 24 to 48 hours,” a spokesman for the Ombudsmen, Craig Bildstien told SmartCompany this morning.

The Ombudsman checklist includes the following questions:

* Do you know which Award your business is currently covered by and which Modern Award will apply after January 1?
* Are arrangements in place so that the business will comply with the National Employment Standards when they come into force on January 1?
* Are you keeping the required records and giving employees pay slips?
* Are you aware of your options for making an Enterprise Agreement with employees?
* Do you understand how to bargain in good faith if you want to make an Enterprise Agreement with employees?
* Do you understand and are you able to comply with the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code if terminating an employee’s employment?

It advises SMEs that cannot answer “yes” to every question to seek advice. The Ombudsman has set up a hotline with 200 “highly-skilled advisers” manning the phones between 8am and 6pm on weekdays.

But COSBOA chief Jaye Radisich says businesses simply do not have enough time in the lead up to Christmas to process the information about new employment standards and modern awards.

“A lot of people are being put under pressure – the Fair Work Ombudsman, Fair Work Australia, industry organisations and small businesses. The information wasn’t prepared in a timely fashion and people just don’t have the raw material to work with.”

“Just look at retailers. In the middle of the Christmas period they have to change awards, change conditions, change rates of pay, inform employees – and none of the information if available. “

What concerns Radisich most is how harshly a small business that breaches the new rules in the first months of 2010 might be treated. She wants Workplace Minister Julia Gillard to reassure employers that a hard line will not be taken.

“There needs to be some leeway during the implantation and transition phase. Some licence should be given if small businesses don’t have the knowledge, advice or the systems to immediately make the transition.”