Australian business groups say a federal court judgment regarding historical entitlements of salaried staff under the General Retail Industry Award (GRIA) will be “far-reaching and add further complexity and red tape” to salaried employment across all industry sectors.
In a joint statement, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), Business Council of Australia (BCA), Australian Industry Group (Ai Group), Australian Retailers Association (ARA) and National Retail Association (NRA) said the consequences of the decision will be higher costs, an increased compliance burden and reduced productivity.
“The decision makes it clear how difficult it is for employers to provide employees with flexibility, whilst meeting the burdens of time and wage recording and award conditions,” reads the statement.
“It also highlights the onerous nature of requirements to keep detailed records of hours worked and award entitlements, even in circumstances where an employee may be paid an annual salary that significantly exceeds the value of entitlements.”
The peak bodies are calling for “sensible but meaningful” steps to simplify Australia’s “increasingly unworkable” workplace relations system.
“This includes simplifying Australia’s complex system of awards and addressing unrealistic record keeping requirements that are clearly out of step with modern working arrangements,” they said.
ARA CEO Chris Rodwell says the case will “deeply impact” the retail industry, Australia’s single largest private sector employer, and demonstrates the challenges businesses face in complying with the “profoundly complex” GRIA.
“This once again highlights how compelling the case for award simplification is. Both employees and employers should be better able to understand the award to avoid compliance issues,” he says.
“With 994 different pay rates across almost 100 pages, the GRIA is incredibly difficult for employers to understand. The expectation that smaller mum-and-dad operated businesses, who lack legal and HR resources, can use the award appropriately is entirely unreasonable.
“This complexity has been the driver for our case in the Fair Work Commission to clarify, simplify and modernise the GRIA. If it requires teams of lawyers and HR experts to interpret the GRIA, it’s clear the system is broken, and it is setting up businesses to fail.
“It’s important to stress this isn’t simply about retailers. Employees deserve clarity, too. Workers have the right to understand their pay and conditions clearly and simply. We will continue to advocate for solutions that will make the retail award easy to understand while delivering choice and flexibility to employees.”
The BCA, ACCI, ARA, Ai Group and NRA were not parties to the FWO case.
