Federal Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews recently announced plans to establish a national approach to workplace safety and workers compensation, with the creation of an Australian Safety and Compensation Council (ASCC)
Federal Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews recently announced plans to establish a national approach to workplace safety and workers compensation, with the creation of an Australian Safety and Compensation Council (ASCC). The new body will comprise representatives from State, Territory and Federal governments, along with employer and employee representatives. The ASCC’s main role will be to coordinate research and provide policy advice to the Workplace Relations Minister’s Council. Minister Andrews said the ASCC will be a forum for better national discussion and coordination while respecting states’ jurisdictions over workplace safety and workers compensation.
Tax threshold increases to spark salary packaging reviews
The significant increases in the thresholds for higher marginal tax levels announced by the Treasurer in the recent federal budget may be the impetus for employers and employees to re-evaluate the way in which salary packages are structured. The changes to the tax thresholds in collusion with the superannuation co-contribution scheme provide the catalyst for employers and employees to consider how best to package super in the future, according to Mercer Human Resource Consulting. The reduction in tax effectiveness for pre-tax contributions and increase in attractiveness for after-tax contributions will make current salary packaging arrangements less financially advantageous, according to Mercer’s Michael Lyons.
Salary cuts force workers to be more flexible
Eighty-one per cent of jobseekers worldwide accepted a new position with a salary cut and spent an average of 5.2 months on the unemployment queue in 2003, according to a global DBM study in career transitions, which polled 64,000 individuals in 40 countries including 2,800 respondents in Australia. It found that 78 per cent globally cited corporate downsizing and restructuring as major contributors to their employment transition. In the Asia Pacific only 45 per cent of professionals returned to full-time jobs after being in transition, while 9 per cent chose part-time or temporary employment. Twenty-five per cent of individuals started their own business or went into self-employment, while job tenure prior to retrenchment lasted an average of six years.
German employers to ditch shorter working week
German employers across a range of industries have lodged demands with unions to increase the number of hours their employees can work, following a steady economic recovery and growing competition from low-wage countries in Asia and central Europe. Twenty years after Germany’s industrial unions secured a 35-hour working week for employees, employers have stated they will not lay off any of their workforce as long as employees work an average of 40-hours per week on the same wage. Unions have shown a willingness to negotiate, fearing that employers will initiate mass layoffs as they shift operations out of Germany to countries with a cheaper cost base.
CEO departures still near record levels
Forced departures of CEOs declined last year, although involuntary turnover remains at near-record levels, according to a Booz Allen Hamilton survey of CEO turnover at the world’s 2,500 largest publicly traded corporations. It found that performance-related successions represented 31 per cent of all CEO departures, while overall 9.5 per cent of companies changed chief executives in 2003. Twenty-eight per cent of CEOs departing in 2003 were ‘outsiders’ hired into the job from another company, while the rate of CEO dismissals has increased by 170 per cent from 1995 to 2003. The study also found that dividing the roles of CEO and chairman does not result in superior performance, despite the expectations of corporate governance proponents.
Car wash operator taken to discrimination cleaners
The Federal Court recently fined a car wash owner $3,000 and ordered him to pay approximately $3,500 to a deaf, intellectually disabled and dyslexic employee, after the owner ridiculed and dismissed him on the basis of his disabilities. The employee was originally employed for one day each week, but this was extended to full-time employment when Vehicle Enviro Wash was sold to the new owner. However the owner did not pay the employee for all of the hours he worked, and sacked the employee after his mother sought to clarify the terms of his employment. The Court said there was no doubt that the employee was sacked due to his physical or mental disabilities, and fined the owner for engaging in “despicable conduct”.
