Key employment law changes as we close out 2022
Written By
Partner
Australia
I am a partner in our International HR Services Group in Sydney where I advise our clients on the full spectrum of employment and industrial law issues.
As we come to the close of 2022, employers should note two key Bills recently passed by Parliament: the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill 2022 and the Anti-Discrimination and Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Respect at Work) Bill 2022.
Below, we have summarised the key changes, the impact they will have on employers, and required actions.
| Key change | When and what is changing? | Action required |
|
Paid family and domestic violence leave |
From 1 February 2023, all employees, including casuals, will be entitled to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave. | Employers should update any relevant policies or procedures, effective from 1 February 2023. |
| Positive duty to eliminate workplace sexual harassment |
December 2023. There is, however, a 12-month transition period before the positive duty becomes enforceable. | In anticipation of the change, employers should be proactively ensuring they take all possible steps to prevent instances of unlawful sex discrimination or sexual harassment, such as collecting and monitoring data, providing appropriate support to employees, and providing regular training and education on the subject. |
| Flexible work arrangements | From 6 June 2023, more employees can request flexible working arrangements. This includes:
|
Before refusing a request for a flexible working arrangement, employers will need to:
|
| Prohibition of pay secrecy clauses |
From 7 December 2022, contracts of employment or other written agreements must not contain pay secrecy terms. The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) now provides employees and future employees a new workplace right to: (a) share or not share information about:
(b) ask other employees (with the same or a different employer) about their:
Any contracts of employment entered into prior to 7 December 2022 with existing pay secrecy terms will no longer have effect. |
Employers should review any template contracts of employment, written agreements or workplace policies to remove and/or ensure that there are no pay secrecy clauses. |
| Threshold to establish ‘harassment on the ground of sex’ | From 13 December 2022, the ‘seriously demeaning’ threshold was amended to align with existing legal standards and other offences under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth). |
Revise definition of sexual harassment in any policies or procedures to remove the word ‘seriously’ from definition: Sex-based harassment is any unwelcome conduct of a |
| Prohibition of fixed term contracts |
6 December 2023, unless an earlier date is set by the government. From 6 December 2023, employers can no longer employ an employee* on a fixed term contract that:
|
Engage impacted employees on fixed term contracts for less than two years only. Consider exceptions for fixed term contracts exceeding two years. |
