Important changes to the Fair Work Act

Amendments to the Fair Work Act come into effect today which have implications for all employers. Important changes include:
 
Pay Secrecy
 
Clauses that require employees to keep details of their remuneration and terms and conditions of employment confidential are now prohibited and must not be included in new contracts. Any existing pay secrecy clauses will no longer have any effect. 
You must check any template employment agreement that you are using for pay secrecy clauses to ensure they are removed. Employers will face civil penalties if pay secrecy clauses are included in new contracts.
 
Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave
 
From 1 February 2023 (1 August 2023 for small business employers), employees will be entitled to 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave. This replaces the current 5 days unpaid leave, which continues to apply until the paid entitlement comes into effect. The entitlement does not have to be accrued and will be available to employees upon commencement. However, it will not accumulate from year to year.
 
What do you need to do?

If you have not updated your employment agreements recently, we recommend that you review these to ensure they remain current and incorporate the recent changes to the Fair Work Act (including those mentioned above and other amendments recently passed).
 
If you would like advice on these or any of the other changes to the Fair Work Act, please do not hesitate to contact Heather Richardson or Isabella Royce.

Further details can be found in this article.