1. Australia Releases Fair Work Amendment Bill 2013
(Sunnyvale, CA) - On March 21, 2013, the government initiated the Fair Work Amendment Bill 2013 (Amendment
Bill) into the federal Parliament. The Bill includes a broad range of amendments intended at making employment
more flexible and family friendly, and providing the Fair Work Commission (FWC) authority to deal with anti social
claims at the workplace says Nair & Co., which provides Global HR services for companies expanding overseas.
Fair Work Amendment Bill 2013: Key Highlights
Proposition for flexible work arrangements (WEF – Proclamation date or 6 months from Royal Assent)
Employees will be empowered with the rights to request flexible working arrangements in the following situations:
 A parent or a carer has a child of school age or younger,
 Employees who are disabled,
 Employees who are aged 55 and over,
 An employee who is a “carer” as termed in the Carer Recognition Act 2010. Parents or carers returning from
leave after the birth or adoption of a child.
Concurrent unpaid parental leave (WEF – Proclamation date or 6 months from Royal Assent)
The proposed changes to this are:
 An increase in the leave period to a maximum limit of 8 weeks from the current 3 weeks' period.
 Unpaid parental leave can now be taken in separate periods
 It is mandatory now, for employees to give a 10 weeks’ notice when applying for the first time for this leave
and 4 weeks’ notice if they have earlier taken this leave.
Unpaid special maternity leave (WEF – Proclamation date or 6 months from Royal Assent)
Employees taking unpaid maternity leave will also be eligible for unpaid special maternity leave
Changes to standard working hours (WEF Jan 1, 2014)
 The Fair Work (FW) Act provisions will be amended to include a “consultation” related provision concerning
modern awards and enterprise agreements. Under such a provision, the Bill expects employers to discuss
with the employees modifications in the standard working hours.
 Employers shall require employees to be provided with information about the changes;
 Employees will be allowed to provide their observations with regards to the proposed changes; and
 Employers will need to consider the employees’ opinion.
Parental leave – “Transferring to a safe job” (WEF – Proclamation date or 6 months from Royal Assent)

2.  Pregnant employees are required to be shifted to a safe job to avoid any risk arising out of pregnancy. This
will apply even to employees who have not served 12 months in a company or where the notice period
requirements to take unpaid parental leave have not been satisfied.
 In case of unavailability of such a job, an employee could benefit from “no safe job leave” for the risk period
where she would have otherwise been entitled to unpaid parental leave.
Modern award Objective (WEF Jan 1, 2014)
The FWC will now consider the need for additional remuneration for working overtime, unsocial or irregular or
random hours, weekends, public holidays, or shifts when making or varying modern awards.
Anti-bullying (WEF – Proclamation date or 6 months from Royal Assent)
 Workers (employees and contractors) can now apply to FWC if they fairly believe that they have been bullied
at work. FWC will be required to deal with this within 14 days of the application being made.
 Workers are considered to be “bullied at work” if they are at work in a constitutionally-covered workplace
and are constantly subject to unreasonable behavior which creates a risk to health and safety.
Implications of the proposed law on the employers:
Employers may have to deal with new types of workplace claims. Hence, they must incorporate and comply with
the FWC policies. It is advisable to seek legal advice to minimize the associated risks arising from these
amendments.
For a detailed advice on the issue, contact the Global HR services team at info@nair-co.com.
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About Nair & Co.
Nair & Co. provides you with your one touch outsourced finance, HR, legal and global tax compliance department
for your international operations. If you are expanding abroad for the first time or increasing your global footprint,
our turnkey solutions help you do so with minimal risk, stress and cost. We support 4000+ client operations in over
56 countries and have core offices in U.K., India, China, U.S., Japan and Singapore. Nair & Co. was named among
the top 100 outsourcing services providers in the world by the International Association of Outsourcing
Professionals (IAOP). Learn more at www.nair-co.com
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