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General protections benchbook

An overview of legal procedure & case law

Meaning of workplace right

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Table of contents

On this page

  • Overview
  • Workplace law
  • Workplace instrument
  • Order made by an industrial body
  • Role or responsibility under a workplace law or instrument
  • Able to make a complaint or inquiry to seek compliance with a workplace law or instrument
  • Able to make a complaint or inquiry in relation to his or her employment
  • Process or proceedings under a workplace law or instrument
  • Industrial action
  • Prospective employees
  • Case examples
  • References

 

Overview

See Fair Work Act s.341

A person has a workplace right if the person:

  • is entitled to the benefit of a workplace law, workplace instrument or an order made by an industrial body
  • has a role or responsibility under a workplace law, workplace instrument or order made by an industrial body
  • is able to initiate or participate in a process or proceedings under a workplace law or instrument
  • is able to make a complaint or inquiry to a person or body with capacity to seek compliance with a workplace law or instrument, or
  • is able to make a complaint or inquiry in relation to his or her employment.

Workplace law

A workplace law is a law that regulates the relationships between employers and employees (including by dealing with occupational health and safety matters).[1]

Workers’ compensation laws are directed to matters that both regulate and define the employer/employee relationship and therefore fall within the definition of ‘workplace law’.[2]

The fact that a law regulates other relationships as well as the employment relationship does not take it outside the definition of workplace law.[3] The Equal Opportunity Act has been found to be a workplace law.[4]

The Privacy Act has been found not to be a workplace law as it does not regulate the relationship between employers and employees.[5]

A particular provision within an Act or regulation could be said to regulate the relationship between employers and employees, even though the Act or the regulations as a whole do not.[6]

A workplace law must be a statute law (including delegated legislation). It does not generally include rights arising under contracts of employment or other common law rights.[7]

Workplace instrument

A workplace instrument is an instrument that is made under, or recognised by a workplace law and concerns the relationships between employers and employees.[8]

The term ‘workplace instrument’ does not apply to the contract of employment itself.[9]

A workplace instrument usually refers to an enterprise agreement or an award.

Order made by an industrial body

Industrial body means:

  • the Fair Work Commission
  • a court or commission (however described) performing or exercising, under an industrial law, functions and powers corresponding to those conferred on the Fair Work Commission by the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Fair Work Act), or
  • a court or commission (however described) performing or exercising, under a workplace law, functions and powers corresponding to those conferred on the Fair Work Commission by the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009 (Cth).[10]

Other bodies that can be considered ‘industrial bodies’ are:

  • the Federal Court
  • the Federal Circuit Court
  • an eligible State or Territory court (meaning one of the following):
    • a district, county or local court
    • a magistrates court
    • the South Australian Employment Tribunal, and
    • the Industrial Court of New South Wales
  • a State or Territory commission (meaning one of the following):
    • the Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales
    • the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission
    • the South Australian Employment Tribunal
    • the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission, and
    • the Tasmanian Industrial Commission.

Role or responsibility under a workplace law or instrument

It has been accepted that the role of a bargaining representative is a role or responsibility under a workplace law.[11]

An obligation to ensure workplace safety as a Health and Safety Officer is also a role or responsibility under a workplace law.[12]

Able to make a complaint or inquiry to seek compliance with a workplace law or instrument

A person exercises a workplace right where they make a complaint or inquiry to a body having capacity to seek compliance with the law or a workplace instrument, even when the complaint concerns other employees.[13]

Able to make a complaint or inquiry in relation to his or her employment

A person exercises a workplace right where they make a complaint or inquiry in relation to their employment. The Fair Work Act does not restrict the person or body to whom such a complaint or inquiry could be directed. It can include situations where an employee makes an inquiry or complaint to his or her employer.[14] Seeking legal advice in relation to a person’s employment also falls within the meaning of a complaint or inquiry.[15]

Although the words ‘is able to’ are taken to have a broad meaning, in order for the complaint or inquiry to be considered a workplace right, it is necessary that the complaint or inquiry concerns and is confined to the person’s employment.[16]

In Evans v Trilab Pty Ltd[17] the Federal Circuit Court found that a complaint or inquiry need:

  • not arise from a statutory, regulatory or contractual provision before it can be a complaint or inquiry in relation to a person’s employment for the purposes of s.341(1)(c)(ii) of the Fair Work Act, and
  • only have an indirect nexus with a person’s terms or conditions of employment to come within the scope of s.341(1)(c)(ii), and may be a complaint about the conduct of another person in the workplace or about a workplace process which concerns or has implications for an employee’s employment.

In Shea v TRUenergy Services Pty Ltd (No 6)[18] the Federal Court noted that the Fair Work Act does not provide a definition of ‘complaint’.[19]

Having reviewed the authorities Dodds-Streeton J held that a complaint could be treated as having been made if the ‘relevant communication, whatever its precise form, would be reasonably understood in context as an expression of grievance or a finding of fault which seeks, whether expressly or implicitly, that the employer or other relevant party at least take notice of and consider the complaint’.[20]

An illustrative example

is provided in the Explanatory Memorandum:[21]

Freddy works part-time at a petrol station. He believes he is not being paid the correct award rate for a console operator. He writes a letter of complaint to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) as he mistakenly believes that it is able to investigate wage underpayments. Freddy tells his manager about the letter. Following this, his hours for the next fortnight are cut in half. While the complaint would not be covered by subparagraph 341(1)(c)(i) as the ACCC does not have the capacity under a workplace law to seek compliance with the applicable award, Freddy would still have exercised a workplace right because he has made a complaint regarding his employment (subparagraph 341(1)(c)(ii)).

Process or proceedings under a workplace law or instrument

Each of the following is a process or proceedings under a workplace law or instrument:

  • a conference or hearing held by the Fair Work Commission (the Commission)
  • court proceedings under a workplace law or instrument
  • protected industrial action
  • making, varying or terminating an enterprise agreement
  • appointing (or terminating the appointment of) a bargaining representative
  • making or terminating an individual flexibility arrangement under a modern award or enterprise agreement
  • agreeing to cash out paid annual leave or paid personal/carer’s leave
  • making a request for flexible working arrangements
  • dispute settlement under a workplace law or instrument, or
  • any other process or proceedings under a workplace law or instrument.[22]

Industrial action

Industrial action by an employee is:

  • the performance of work in a manner different from that in which it is customarily performed, or the adoption of a practice in relation to work by an employee, the result of which is a restriction or limitation on or a delay in the performance of the work
  • a ban, limitation or restriction on the performance of work by an employee or on the acceptance of or offering for work by an employee, or
  • a failure or refusal by employees to attend for work or a failure or refusal to perform any work at all by employees who attend for work.[23]

Industrial action by employees is protected industrial action if it is ‘employee claim action’ or ‘employee response action’ for a proposed agreement.[24] Employee claim action is action organised or engaged in for the purpose of supporting or advancing claims in relation to the agreement.[25] Employee response action is action organised or engaged in as a response to industrial action by an employer.[26]

Industrial action may be taken by an employer and most commonly takes the form of a lockout of employees. It is protected if it is ‘employer response action’, being industrial action organised or engaged in as a response to industrial action by a bargaining representative or by the employees.[27]

For industrial action to be protected, the requirements in ss.413 and 414 of the Fair Work Act must be satisfied. Industrial action by employees must be authorised by a protected action ballot of employees in accordance with the requirement of Part 3‒3 Division 8 of the Fair Work Act.

The wearing of union campaign clothing may constitute industrial action, depending on the circumstances. If an employee is only prepared to perform work if they are wearing a particular item of clothing then they are placing a limitation or restriction on the performance of work or on the acceptance or offering of work and therefore engaging in industrial action.[28]

Wearing particular clothing whilst performing work has nothing to do with the manner in which the work is performed and will not constitute industrial action if wearing the clothing does not amount to banning the performance of the work, limiting the performance of the work or restricting the performance of the work. There may be situations where particular work can only be performed whilst wearing certain clothing, such as personal protective equipment, and the refusal to wear that clothing could affect the manner in which the work is being performed and result in a restriction or limitation on, or delay in, the performance of the work.[29]

Prospective employees

A prospective employee is taken to have the workplace rights he or she would have if he or she were employed in the prospective employment by the prospective employer.

Case examples

Applicant had a workplace right

Personal/carer’s leave

Wilkie v National Storage Operations Pty Ltd [2013] FCCA 1056 (9 August 2013).

The employee had a workplace right under the provisions of the Fair Work Act to take personal/carer’s leave due to an ‘unexpected emergency’, being the need to collect a primary school child from school.

Compensation ordered

The respondent was ordered to pay the applicant $32,130.78 for loss suffered.

Benefit under an enterprise agreement

Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union v McCorkell Constructions Pty Ltd (No 2) [2013] FCA 446 (17 May 2013).

McCorkell was successful in tendering for construction works with the Victorian Government. The contract required McCorkell and any of its subcontractors to comply with the Victorian Code of Practice for the Building and Construction Industry and the Implementation Guidelines to the Code. McCorkell put the demolition work out to tender and Eco was an unsuccessful bidder in that tender process because its enterprise agreement was not ‘code compliant’. McCorkell took adverse action against employees of Eco by refusing to engage or make use of the services of Eco because those employees were entitled to the benefit of the Eco Agreement.

The Court found that the Victorian Government also took adverse action against Eco with intent to coerce Eco and its employees to exercise their workplace right to vary the Eco Agreement.

Making complaints about a supervisor

National Tertiary Education Union v Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology [2013] FCA 451 (16 May 2013).

The respondent made use of its redundancy processes to rid itself of an employee who it considered to be troublesome because she exercised her workplace rights by making complaints about the behaviour of her immediate supervisor.

Penalty ordered

The respondent was ordered to pay the union representing the applicant $37,000 as pecuniary penalty.

Underpayment

Hall v City Country Hotel Management Pty Ltd & Ors (No.2) [2014] FCCA 2317 (10 October 2014).

The respondent took unlawful adverse action when it stopped giving shifts to a casual bartender who complained of being underpaid.

Compensation ordered

The respondent was ordered to pay the applicant $8,120.08 for unpaid wages and superannuation; $2,500 for distress, hurt, and humiliation; and $685.07 interest.

Underpayment

Kennewell v MG & CG Atkins trading as Cardinia Waste & Recyclers [2015] FCA 716 (16 July 2015).

The applicant was employed as a casual truck driver and had worked for the company for only a few weeks when he was dismissed. The applicant was dismissed after making complaints to, and inquiries of, his supervisor about his pay rates and employment status.

The Court noted that there had been a number of previous instances where employees, who had complained about the company failing to pay them their award entitlements, had been dismissed.

Penalty ordered

The respondent was ordered to pay the applicant $7,500 as a pecuniary penalty.

Compensation ordered

The respondent was ordered to pay the applicant $2,900.85 for loss suffered.

Applicant did NOT have a workplace right

Personal/carer’s leave

Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union v Endeavour Coal Pty Ltd [2013] FCCA 473 (27 June 2013).

The employee took personal/carer’s leave and was subsequently removed from the weekend shift, asked to sign an agreement as a precondition to returning to his normal shift and issued with a final written warning.

A clause in the enterprise agreement permitted the employer to require an employee to prove to its satisfaction that an absence from work was caused by illness or injury. The employer submitted that evidence provided by the employee about the absence was unsatisfactory.

The Court held that by virtue of s.107(4) of the Fair Work Act, even if an employee does not provide satisfactory evidence of illness on the request of the employer then an entitlement to that leave does not exist.

Where an enterprise agreement applies, the Court will look to the particular wording of that agreement, and whether it contains any pre-conditions to the entitlement to personal/carer’s leave to determine whether or not the person had a workplace right in a particular situation.

The Court accepted that the absences in question were unauthorised and found that they did not represent the exercise of a workplace right.

Complaint or inquiry in relation to employment

Harrison v In Control Pty Ltd [2013] FMCA 149 (8 March 2013), [(2013) 273 FLR 190].

The applicant continually disagreed with the respondent about the company’s strategic direction.

The Court found that the complaints or inquiries of the applicant were not ‘in relation to his ... employment’ and therefore did not give rise to a workplace right.

References

[1] Fair Work Act s.12.

[2] Construction, Forestry, Mining and Electrical Union v Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd (2012) 225 IR 197 [62].

[3] Bayford v Maxxia Pty Ltd (2011) 207 IR 50 [141].

[4] ibid.

[5] Austin v Honeywell Ltd [2013] FCCA 662 [60]–[61].

[6] Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association v Sunstate Airlines (Qld) Pty Ltd (2012) 208 FCR 386 [24].

[7] Barnett v Territory Insurance Office (2011) 211 IR 439 [29]‒[32]; Daw v Schneider Electric (Australia) Pty Ltd [2013] FCCA 1341 [106]‒[114].

[8] Fair Work Act s.12.

[9] Barnett v Territory Insurance Office (2011) 211 IR 439; cited in Atkinson v Vmoto Limited [2012] FWA 9043 (unreported, Spencer C, 26 October 2012) [57]; Bayford v Maxxia Pty Ltd (2011) 207 IR 50 [155].

[10] Fair Work Act s.12.

[11] Jones v Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre Ltd (No 2) (2010) 186 FCR 22 [15].

[12] Automotive, Food, Metals, Engineering, Printing and Kindred Industries Union v Visy Packaging Pty Ltd (No 2) (2011) 213 IR 48, 52.

[13] McCormack v Chandler Macleod Group Limited [2012] FMCA 231 [67].

[14] Hodkinson v The Commonwealth [2011] FMCA 171 (31 March 2011) at para. 131, [(2011) 207 IR 129].; Devonshire v Magellan Powertronics [2013] FMCA 207 (11 April 2013) at para. 63, [(2013) 231 IR 198].

[15] Murrihy v Betezy.com.au Pty Ltd [2013] FCA 908 [142].

[16] Harrison v In Control Pty Ltd (2013) 273 FLR 190 [63]; citing Jones v Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre Ltd (No 2) (2010) 186 FCR 22 [57].

[17] [2014] FCCA 2464 [61]; citing Murrihy v Betezy.com.au Pty Ltd (2013) 238 IR 307 [141]–[143]; and Walsh v Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust (No. 2) [2014] FCA 456 [41], [43].

[18] (2014) 242 IR 1.

[19] Shea v TRUenergy Services Pty Ltd (No 6) (2014) 242 IR 1 [576].

[20] ibid., [626].

[21] Explanatory Memorandum to Fair Work Bill 2008 [1370].

[22] Fair Work Act s.341(2).

[23] Fair Work Act s.19(1)(a)‒(c).

[24] Fair Work Act s.408.

[25] Fair Work Act s.409.

[26] Fair Work Act s.410.

[27] Fair Work Act s.411.

[28] Mornington Peninsula Shire Council [2011] FWAFB 4809 (unreported, Watson SDP, Kaufman SDP, Gooley C, 22 July 2011) [31].

[29] United Firefighters Union of Australia v Easy [2013] FCA 763 [154].

Updated time

Last updated

15 June 2018

 

 

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      • What is a trade and commerce employer?
      • What is a Territory employer?
      • What is a national system employer?
    • What if I am not covered?
    • What is adverse action?
      • What is dismissal?
      • Injuring employee in their employment
      • Altering the position of the employee
      • Discriminating
      • Threatened action and organisation of action
      • Exclusions
    • Workplace rights protections
      • Meaning of workplace right
      • Coercion
      • Undue influence or pressure
      • Misrepresentations
      • Requiring the use of COVIDSafe
    • Industrial activities protections
      • What are industrial activities?
      • Coercion
      • Misrepresentations
      • Inducements – membership action
    • Other protections
      • Discrimination
        • Race
        • Colour
        • Gender identity & sexual orientation
        • Age
        • Physical or mental disability
        • Marital status
        • Family or carer’s responsibilities
        • Pregnancy
        • Religion
        • Political opinion
        • National extraction
        • Social origin
      • Exceptions
      • Temporary absence – illness or injury
      • Bargaining services fees
      • Coverage by particular instruments
      • Coercion – allocation of duties to particular person
    • Sham arrangements
      • Misrepresenting employment
      • Dismissing to engage as independent contractor
      • Misrepresentation to engage as independent contractor
    • Making an application
      • Dismissal applications
        • Timeframe for lodgment
        • Extension of time for lodging an application
      • Non-dismissal applications
      • Other types of applications
        • Multiple actions relating to dismissal
        • Unfair dismissal
        • Unlawful termination
        • Court application
        • Discrimination
    • Power to dismiss applications
    • Evidence
    • Commission process
      • Conferences & hearings
      • Dealing with different types of general protections disputes
      • Rescheduling or adjourning matters
      • Representation by lawyers and paid agents
      • Bias
    • Outcomes
    • Costs
      • When are costs ordered by the Commission?
      • Costs against representatives
    • Appeals
    • Role of the Court
      • Enforcement of Commission orders
      • Types of order made by the Court
  • Industrial action benchbook
    • Glossary & naming conventions
    • What is industrial action?
      • Unprotected industrial action
        • Orders to stop or prevent unprotected industrial action
      • Protected industrial action
        • Immunity
        • Common requirements
        • Employee claim action
        • Employer response action
        • Employee response action
        • Pattern bargaining
    • Taking protected industrial action
      • Protected action ballots
        • Who may apply?
        • Making an application
        • Commission process
        • Varying a protected action ballot order
        • Revoking a protected action ballot order
      • Voting
        • Ballot agents
        • Who may vote – roll of voters
        • Ballot papers
        • Voting procedure
        • Scrutiny of the ballot
        • Results of the ballot
        • When is industrial action authorised?
      • Notice requirements
      • Commencing protected industrial action
    • Payments relating to industrial action
      • Partial work bans
      • Unprotected industrial action – payments
      • Standing down employees
    • Suspension or termination of protected industrial action
      • Powers of the Commission
        • When the Commission may suspend or terminate
        • When the Commission must suspend or terminate
          • Threats to persons or the economy
          • Suspending industrial action
        • Requirements relating to a period of suspension
      • Powers of the Minister
    • Enforcement
    • Appeals
  • JobKeeper benchbook
    • Glossary
    • Introduction
      • Provisions of the Fair Work Act
    • JobKeeper enabling directions – general
      • Service & entitlement accrual
      • When a JobKeeper enabling direction will have no effect
      • Stand downs that are not jobkeeper enabling stand downs
      • Employee requests
    • Jobkeeper enabling stand down directions – entitled employers
      • Directions about duties & location of work
    • Jobkeeper enabling directions – legacy employers
      • Jobkeeper enabling stand down directions – legacy employers
      • Directions about duties & location of work – legacy employers
      • Termination of a jobkeeper enabling direction – legacy employers
    • Agreements about days or times of work
      • Agreements about days or times of work – entitled employers
      • Agreements about days or times of work – legacy employers
      • Termination of an agreement about days or times of work
    • Employer payment obligations
      • Wage condition
      • Minimum payment guarantee
      • Hourly rate of pay guarantee
    • Agreements about annual leave
    • Protections
    • Disputes we cannot assist with
    • Applications to deal with a dispute
      • Who can make an application
      • Responding to an application
      • Objecting to an application
      • Discontinuing an application
    • Commission process
      • General information
      • Conferences & hearings
      • Procedural issues
    • Evidence
    • Outcomes
      • Contravening an order
      • Appeals
      • Role of the Court
    • Attachments
  • Modern Awards Review 2012
    • Introduction
      • Modern Awards Review 2012
  • Sir Richard Kirby Archives
    • Home
    • Sir Richard Kirby
    • About the Archives
    • Cases
      • Case
      • The Honourable Justice Henry Bournes Higgins (1851–1929)
    • Centenary
    • Exhibitions
      • Exhibition launch: The history of the Australian minimum wage
      • Guide – Opening Exhibition
      • International Industrial Dispute Resolution Conference
        • Speaker – Justice Alan Boulton AO
        • Speaker – Mr Arthur F Rosenfeld
        • Speaker – Mr Craig Smith
        • Speaker – Mr James Wilson
        • Speaker – Mr Kieran Mulvey
        • Speaker – Mr Peter Anderson
        • Speaker – Ms Ginette Brazeau
        • Speaker – Ms Nerine Kahn
        • Speaker – Ms Rita Donaghy CBE
        • Speaker – Ms Sharan Burrow
        • Speaker – Senator Guy Barnett
        • Speaker – The Hon. Julia Gillard
      • The Journey
        • Court
          • Early years
          • New court
            • Profile of Justice O'Connor
            • First registration of an industrial organisation
          • Judges & conciliators
          • The Boilermakers' Case
            • The dispute & appeals
        • Commission
          • Post Boilermakers 1956-1973
          • Hawke & Keating governments
            • Industrial Relations Court
          • Howard Government
        • Fair Work Australia
          • The Fair Work system
          • About Fair Work Australia
          • Transition
          • Fair Work timeline
      • The history of the Australian minimum wage
        • The Great Strikes
        • The first minimum wage: The Victorian minimum wage
        • The Harvester Decision
        • The impact of the Great Depression
        • Working it out: Cost of living versus capacity to pay
        • The removal of award rate discrimination
        • The wage explosion & economic crisis
        • The modern era: The development of a modern minimum wage
      • Treasures of the archives
        • Launch speech?Treasures of the Archives
        • 1. Professor Isaac
        • 2. Register of organisations
        • 3. Perlman letters
        • 4. Sir Richard Kirby photograph
        • 5. Oral history program
        • 6. AIRC sign
        • 7. Folder of wage decisions
        • 8. Centenary exhibition
        • 9. Women's exhibition poster
        • 10. Isaac letters
    • The modern era
    • Past Presidents
    • Past Members
      • Past Members 1956 to present
      • Past Members to 1956
  • Unfair dismissals benchbook
    • Overview of unfair dismissal
    • Glossary & naming conventions
    • Coverage for unfair dismissal
      • Who is protected from unfair dismissal?
      • People excluded from national unfair dismissal laws
        • Independent contractors
        • Labour hire workers
        • Vocational placements & volunteers
        • Public sector employment
      • Constitutional corporations
      • High income threshold
      • Modern award coverage
      • Application of an enterprise agreement
      • What is the minimum period of employment?
        • How do you calculate the minimum period of employment?
        • What is continuous service?
        • What is an excluded period?
      • Bankruptcy
      • Insolvency
    • What is dismissal?
      • When does a dismissal take effect?
      • Terminated at the employer's initiative
      • Forced resignation
      • Demotion
      • Contract for a specified period of time
      • Contract for a specified task
      • Contract for a specified season
      • Training arrangement
      • What is a transfer of employment?
      • Periods of service as a casual employee
      • What is a genuine redundancy?
        • Job no longer required due to changes in operational requirements
        • Consultation obligations
        • Redeployment
      • What is the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code?
    • What makes a dismissal unfair?
      • Valid reason relating to capacity or conduct
        • Capacity
        • Conduct
      • Notification of reason for dismissal
      • Opportunity to respond
      • Unreasonable refusal of a support person
      • Warnings – unsatisfactory performance
      • Size of employer's enterprise and human resources specialists
      • Other relevant matters
    • Making an application
      • Application fee
      • Timeframe for lodgment
      • Extension of time for lodging an application
      • Who is the employer?
      • Multiple actions
      • Discontinuing an application
    • Objecting to an application
    • Commission process
      • Conciliation
      • Hearings and conferences
      • Preparing for hearings and conferences
      • Representation by lawyers and paid agents
      • Rescheduling or adjourning matters
      • Bias
    • Remedies
      • Reinstatement
        • Order for reinstatement cannot be subject to conditions
        • Order to maintain continuity
        • Order to restore lost pay
      • Compensation
        • Calculating compensation
        • Mitigation
        • Remuneration
        • Other relevant matters
        • Compensation cap
        • Instalments
    • Dismissing an application
    • Evidence
    • Costs
      • Costs against representatives
      • Security for costs
    • Appeals
      • Staying decisions
    • Role of the Court
  • Waltzing Matilda and the Sunshine Harvester Factory
    • Introduction
    • The book
      • Book launch
    • The film
      • Film launch
    • Historical material
      • 38 Hour Week Wage Principle [1983]
      • 40 Hour Week Case [1947]
      • 44 Hour Week Case [1927]
      • Apprenticeship indentures
      • Australian Minimum Wage and fitter (trades) rate since 1906
      • Boot Trades Case
      • Careers in Bootmaking and Boot Repairing
      • Cattle Industry Case 1966
      • Commercial Printing Case [1936]
      • Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904
      • Cost of living newspaper articles from the early 1900s
      • Debates
      • Equal Pay Case 1969
      • Equal Pay Case 1972
      • Fruit Pickers Case
      • Gas Employees Case
      • Graph of Australian Minimum Wage since 1906
      • Harvester Case
      • Historic case judgments on the Fair Work Commission's website
      • Kingston's evidence
      • Linesmen's Case
      • Maternity Leave Case [1979]
      • Metal trades base level minimum wages [1967–2015]
      • Methods of wage adjustment
        • Establishing an Australian Minimum Wage 1907?1922
          • The origins of the Australian minimum wage
          • The 'needs' principle and 'capacity to pay'
          • Women's wages
          • First indexation decision
        • Quarterly indexation 1922–1953
        • The Great Depression 1931
        • Prosperity loadings 1937
        • World War II 1939–1945
        • The post-war period: 1953–1965 basic wage inquiries
        • The total wage 1966–1967
        • Removal of discrimination in award rates
        • Reintroduction of quarterly wage indexation 1975–1978
        • Six monthly wage indexation 1978–1981
        • Wage explosion 1981–1982
        • Reforming awards and work and management practices 1987–1991
        • Six monthly wage indexation 1983–1987
        • Enterprise bargaining and a minimum wage safety net 1991–1996
        • Statutory adjustments
        • The minimum wage in real terms
      • Mrs Beeton's cookbook
      • Paternity Leave Case [1990]
      • Personal/Carer's Leave Test Case [1995]
      • Piddington report
      • Re Bagshaw [1907]
      • Significant cases on the Fair Work Commission's website
      • Statistics for the purpose of comparison with the Australian minimum wage
      • The Amalgamated Society of Engineers v. The Adelaide Steam-ship Company Limited and Others
      • The Australian minimum wage from 1906
      • The Federated Marine Stewards and Pantrymen's Association v. The Commonwealth Steamship Owners' Association and Others
      • The Victorian minimum wage 1896
        • Legislative Council Second Reading Speech to the Factories and Shops Bill 1896
      • The first Award: 1906 Steam-ship Crew
      • 100 years of the minimum wage—Statistical comparison
    • Mrs Beeton's cookbook
    • Glossary
    • Related sites
    • Educational materials
  • AWRS First Findings report

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