HUNDREDS of small businesses could be caught out by the changeover to new national employment standards on January 1 and could face big fines because they don't understand the new rules, employers have warned.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is urging Australia's workplace watchdog to take a cautious approach to prosecutions as the Rudd government prepares to roll out the final act in Labor's election promise to scrap the Howard government's Work Choices regime.
ACCI CEO Peter Anderson told The Australian Online that while employers welcomed the streamlined system there would be “victims” along the way, including pharmacists, retailers and hospitality groups in some states who would face higher wage costs.
“Most of those costs are the product of changes to penalty rates structures and the times it kicks in on late nights and weekends,” Mr Anderson said.
“Some of them will kick in in relation to allowances and overtime. Those cost rises are being phased in over a period of five years to lessen the impact on industry. That is a welcome aspect of the award modernisation. Nonetheless those costs exist and they are not uniform across the country.”
Mr Anderson said he had been contacted by one Sydney pharmacist who claimed he faced an extra wages bill of $200,000-a-year under the changes when they were fully operational and it could force him to stop opening on Sundays or sponsoring local sporting clubs.
“That's obviously a very sizeable hit and he has to make a decision on whether he continues to operate on Sunday,” he said.
While there had also been strong efforts to educate business owners, ACCI predicted some smaller operations who are not members of an industry group may be unaware the changes affect their workers.
He urged the Fair Work Ombudsman to prosecute cautiously as the new laws were implemented.
“There is going to need to be a very sensible process of enforcement here. Because there is going to be many businesses caught out. The transitional processes are also quite complicated - there are various rules,” he said.
Mr Anderson said it wasn't about turning a blind eye to flagrant breaches.
“The penalties have gone up. Every pay day there is a breach it can clock up to serious fines. We need to make sure we can help business have a clear understanding of what they're obligations are. We are talking about new regulations that affects more than 500,000 businesses,” he said.
In an interview with The Australian yesterday, Ms Gillard said a massive education campaign to ensure companies understood their responsibilities had been under way since the Rudd government was elected with a mandate to introduce the new workplace relations system at the 2007 election.
“So for an employer who is worried about compliance, the question they have to ask themselves is “Am I better off having to wade my way through more than 4000 conflicting old fashioned state and federal instruments?” she said.
“Am I better off trying to get my way through that red tape nightmare, or, am I better off with a system (with) 10 national employment standards and 122 awards. I think the answer to that is obvious.”
Ms Gillard said for multi-state employers who trade in different jurisdictions, the national system would deliver significant benefits.
“For small businesses who start as a sole trader, they move towards being a partnership at some point they incorporate as a company, at the moment they trigger from state workplace systems to the federal system,” she said.
“They might not even know they have gone over that legal line. They don't have to worry about that anymore because this is a uniform system for the private sector.”
“There is plenty of information available to people either direct from Fair Work Australia or from there employer organisation. This is a streamlined new system that will lift masses of red tape and compliance costs of the shoulders of business.”
Issued by The Australian December14th 2009
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/politics/bosses-warn-small-businesses-could-face-big-fines-under-new-employment-laws/story-e6frgczf-1225810236600
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