Changes to Fair Work Act good for community: COSBOA
Under new changes to the Fair Work Act, students can now work in the retail industry for a minimum of 90 minutes reduced from three hours per shift, giving small businesses a chance to open their doors to the community, says Peter Strong, executive director of the Council of Small Business of Australia (COSBOA).
According to a report from the The Australian today, business groups have been battling with Fair Work Australia for over a year to overturn the previous employment regulations, restricting students to work a minimum of three hours each shift.
“From our point of view, small businesses are connected to the community differently to big businesses, so this is about good parenting and good community. A lot of parents are happy to see their teenage kids working - it gives them something to do as well as money, discipline, experience in the workforce... But the earlier decisions were stopping that from happening,” Strong explained to Smarter Business Ideas.
“So now common sense has prevailed and we can get back to what we were doing, running a good business, being part of the community and helping kids get a taste of life.”
The new changes only cover businesses under the General Retail Industry Award, explained Patricia Ryan, practice manager at EI Legal. This includes a range of shops, supermarkets and department stores, but not usually takeaway stores. The changes only effect secondary school students under 18, who can work for a minimum of 1.5 hours on a school day between 3 and 6.30pm. The employee and his or her parental guardian must agree to the shift. In addition, the shift must only take place because of the operational requirements of the employer (for example, if the employer closes at 6pm), or because the employee can’t make the minimum of three hours.
It is important to note that outside of these restrictions, the three-hour minimum shift still applies.
According to Ryan, the changes to the Fair Work Act give employers the opportunity to offer work to a greater range of secondary students on school days, as previously, many employers were not in a position to employ students for a minimum of three hours, simply because they may not have been able to start work on time. Now, employers can offer work to a greater range of secondary students on schooldays.
“Fair Work Australia found that 37% of secondary school students work and half are employed in the retail sector, so [these changes] apply to a lot of secondary school students,” she said. “Fair Work also noted youth unemployment is high, it’s been excess of 15% for 2010 and 2011, so they thought it was significant to open up these opportunities for employees.”