Employment Point-in-Time Service Updates

The Employment Point-in-Time Service has been updated to include the amendments contained in the Fair Work Amendment (Corrupting Benefits) Act 2017 (84 of 2017).

Act 84 of 2017

The Fair Work Amendment (Corrupting Benefits) Act 2017 amends the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act) to respond to recommendations of the Final Report of the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption (the TURC Report), to promote the better governance of registered organisations.

The TURC Report highlighted numerous examples of payments being made to influence registered organisations and their officers and lack of transparency relating to financial benefits derived by bargaining representatives. These recent examples demonstrate that the existing regulatory framework is not sufficient to provide members of registered organisations with confidence that the management of registered organisations is accountable and transparent.

The Act responds to TURC Report recommendations 40, 41 and 48, by amending the Act to:

• make it a criminal offence to give a registered organisation, or a person associated with a registered organisation a corrupting benefit;
• make it a criminal offence to receive or solicit a corrupting benefit;
• make it a criminal offence for a national system employer other than an employee organisation to provide, offer or promise to provide any cash or in kind payment, other than certain legitimate payments to an employee organisation or its prohibited beneficiaries;
• make it a criminal offence to solicit, receive, obtain or agree or obtain any such prohibited payment;
• require bargaining representatives for a proposed enterprise agreement (employers, employer organisations, and unions) to disclose financial benefits that the bargaining representative, or a person or body reasonably connected with it, would or could reasonably be expected to derive because of a term of the proposed agreement. Failure to comply with these requirements can give rise to civil remedies, but will not preclude the approval of the enterprise agreement.

Substantial penalties will be imposed in relation to the giving, receiving or soliciting of corrupting benefits, with the provisions ensuring that there is a uniform and clear federal regime applying to registered organisations throughout Australia.

Disclosure of financial benefits obtained as a consequence of enterprise bargaining is intended to improve transparency and ensure that employees who are asked to vote for an enterprise agreement are properly informed about its effect.

In addressing these issues, the amendments will improve the governance and financial transparency of registered organisations.

The amendments made by Act 84 of 2017 have been updated in the Point-in-Time Employment Service current to 18 August 2017.