I don’t think that anyone that gets married plans on it ending in divorce. Yet over 35% of all marriages will end in divorce for one reason or another. Some studies show that figure closer to 50%. Whether it is 35% or 50% both are staggering and odds I don’t like to see unless I am playing the lottery.

The body charged with ensuring employer compliance with the new mandatory WorkChoices industrial relations regime, the Commonwealth Office of Workplace Services (OWS), has recently launched a national “targeted education and compliance program” focused on restaurants, cafés and food outlets. These businesses are currently being subjected to random audits by the OWS which assess their compliance with the newly amended Workplace Relations Act.

The new independent contractor laws came into effect on 1 March 2007 via the Independent Contractors Act 2006. In combination with the current WorkChoices legislation, the new contractors legislation is a further step towards establishing a single national workplace relations system and has significant implications for the use of independent contractor arrangements.

Tax Laws Amendment (2006 Measures No 7) Bill 2006 passed through Parliament on 29 March 2007. It now awaits Royal Assent.

On 7 May 2007 the Federal Government introduced the Fairness Test for workplace agreements. The stated aim of the test is to guarantee that protected award conditions, such as penalty rates and annual leave, are not traded off without adequate compensation.
Employers and employees who are currently making an agreement need to be aware of the Fairness Test, if they are considering removing or modifying any or all protected award conditions.

Under the amendments to the Workplace Relations Act 1996 in effect since 27 March 2006, employees employed in businesses with fewer than 101 employees are no longer eligible to claim unfair dismissal.