Workplace Relations Amendment (Fair Dismissal) Bill 2002 [No. 2]
First Reading

Workplace Relations Amendment (Fair Dismissal) Bill 2002 [No. 2]
First Reading

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2002

The Parliament of the

Commonwealth of Australia

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Presented and read a first time

Workplace Relations Amendment (Fair Dismissal) Bill 2002

No. , 2002

(Employment and Workplace Relations)

A Bill for an Act to amend the Workplace Relations Act 1996, and for related purposes

Contents

1       Short title 1

2       Commencement 1

3       Schedule(s) 2

Schedule 1--Workplace Relations Act 1996       3

A Bill for an Act to amend the Workplace Relations Act 1996, and for related purposes

The Parliament of Australia enacts:

1 Short title

        This Act may be cited as the Workplace Relations Amendment (Fair Dismissal) Act 2002.

2 Commencement

       (1) Each provision of this Act specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, on the day or at the time specified in column 2 of the table.

Commencement information
Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
Provision(s)	Commencement	Date/Details
1. Sections 1 to 3 and anything in this Act not elsewhere covered by this table	The day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent
2. Schedule 1	A single day to be fixed by Proclamation, subject to subsection (3)

Note:       This table relates only to the provisions of this Act as
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originally passed by the Parliament and assented to. It will not be expanded to deal with provisions inserted in this Act after assent.

       (2) Column 3 of the table is for additional information that is not part of this Act. This information may be included in any published version of this Act.

       (3) If a provision covered by item 2 of the table does not commence within the period of 6 months beginning on the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent, it commences on the first day after the end of that period.

3 Schedule(s)

        Each Act that is specified in a Schedule to this Act is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned, and any other item in a Schedule to this Act has effect according to its terms.

Schedule 1--Workplace Relations Act 1996

1 Subsection 170CE(1)

Omit "subsections (5) and (5A)", substitute "subsections (5), (5A) and (5C)".

2 Before subsection 170CE(6)

Insert:

       (5C) An application under subsection (1) may not be made on the ground referred to in paragraph (1)(a), or on grounds that include that ground, if, at the relevant time, the employer employed less than 20 people, including:

       (a) the employee whose employment was terminated; and

       (b) any casual employee who had been engaged on a regular and systematic basis for a sequence of periods of employment of at least 12 months;

but not including any other casual employee.

       (5D) However, subsection (5C) does not apply if:

       (a) the employee was, at the relevant time, an apprentice; or

       (b) the employee was, at the relevant time, a trainee under a traineeship in respect of which he or she had signed a training agreement registered with a State or Territory training authority.

       (5E) In subsections (5C) and (5D):

relevant time means the time when the employer gave the employee notice of the termination, or the time when the employer terminated the employee's employment, whichever happened first.

3 After section 170CEA

Insert:

170CEB Dismissal of applications that cannot be made because of the small business exemption

       (1) If:

       (a) an application is made, or is purported to have been made, under subsection 170CE(1):

       (i) on the ground referred to in paragraph 170CE(1)(a); or

       (ii) on grounds that include that ground; and

       (b) the Commission is satisfied that, because of subsection 170CE(5C), the application cannot be made under subsection 170CE(1) on the ground referred to in paragraph 170CE(1)(a), or on grounds that include that ground;

the Commission must:

       (c) if subparagraph (a)(i) of this subsection applies--make an order that the application is not a valid application; or

       (d) if subparagraph (a)(ii) of this subsection applies--make an order that the application is not a valid application to the extent that it is made on that ground.

Note:       The Commission is not required to hold a hearing in relation to the making of such an order: see subsection (2).

       (2) The Commission is not required to hold a hearing in relation to the making of an order under this section. In deciding whether to hold a hearing, the Commission must take into account the cost that would be caused to the employer's business by requiring the employer to attend a hearing.

       (3) Before making an order under this section, the Commission may, by notice in writing, request the employee or employer to provide further information in relation to the application within a period specified in the notice.

       (4) In deciding whether to make an order under this section, the Commission must have regard to any further information received within that period.

4 After subsection 170JD(3)

Insert:

       (3A) This section does not apply to an order under section 170CEB (about termination of employment by an employer in small business).

5 After subsection 170JF(2)

Insert:

       (2A) An appeal to a Full Bench under section 45 may not be made in relation to an order under section 170CEB (about termination of employment by an employer in small business).

6 Application of amendments

The amendments made by items 1 to 5 only apply in relation to an application under section 170CE of the Workplace Relations Act 1996 if the employment to which the application relates commenced after the commencement of those items.