An ombudsman report calling to simplify industrial relations laws for small businesses has been backed by Tasmania’s peak business body.
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The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman released a report last week recommending a slew of measures to make it easier for small business owners, and employees, to understand and comply with workplace laws.
Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Michael Bailey said small businesses have a hard time understanding the legislative framework for workplace relations.
“The Fair Work Commission’s investigation on the East Coast on wage rates and compliance showed there were nine businesses that weren’t complying with fair work laws,” he said.
“Those companies weren’t trying to fleece workers – they just got it wrong.
“It can be really confusing for businesses without specialist [human resources] staff.”
Among the recommendations in the report were that the Fair Work Ombudsman should develop online decision making, pay calculation tool and dispute resolution tools and to work with the Fair Work Commission to improve communication channels to small businesses and to publish common disputes and determinations in laymen’s terms for educational purposes.
However, Unions Tasmania secretary Jessica Munday is not happy with all of the report’s findings.
One legislative reform recommendation suggested the maximum compensation on unfair dismissal settlements should be cut from six months to three months for small businesses.
Another was that universal enterprise bargaining agreements should be created for small businesses in different sectors.
It’s not easy to get a successful dismissal case approved, and if a worker does it probably means they deserve to pay compensation.
- Unions Tasmania secretary Jessica Munday
Ms Munday said she supported anything in the report that would improve education of work place legislation, but opposed any measure that made companies less accountable.
“My overall impression is we often get proposals put forward that are said to be about cutting red tape, but are actually about making conditions better for businesses and worse for workers,” she said.
“It’s not easy to get a successful dismissal case approved, and if a worker does it probably means they deserve to pay compensation.”
Mr Bailey said wages and compensation legislation should not be universal across the country.
“I think there needs to be a whole review into how legislation applies across the spectrum,” he said.
“I don’t understand how a business in Scottsdale has to pay someone the same amount as in Sydney or in Melbourne.
“We need to make it more reasonable for small businesses to manage their workforce.”