WHY DO YOU NEED AN EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT?
Now that you have finally found the right person for the job you need to secure their services and know where you stand (and where they stand with you). The only way to ensure this is to prepare and offer the employee an employment agreement.
There are many reasons why an employment agreement with all your employees is fundamental to the success of every business. As they say, "It's the people who make a business".
Keeping up to date with employee entitlements
Just like the IT Industry, employment and industrial law is ever changing. Extensive and considerable changes to employment and industrial law have occurred in the past 3 years (and will occur again shortly, come 1 July 2009). Considerable amendments have been evidenced by the commencement of the Workplace Relations Amendment (Work Choices) Act 2005 (Cth) on 27 March 2006 and consequential amendments to the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cth) ('the Act'), which resulted in national changes to industrial relations legislation for all constitutional corporations.
However, since the change of Federal Government in Australia in December 2007, employment and industrial relations legislation in Australia has (again) changed. On 28 March 2008 the Act was further amended when the Workplace Relations Amendment (Transition to Forward with Fairness) Act 2008 (Cth) ('the Amending Act') commenced. Additionally, on 25 November 2008, the Federal Government introduced the Fair Work Bill 2008, which has since received Royal Assent and became the Fair Work Act 2009 ('the FWA'). The FWA will repeal the current Act with substantive amendments to commence 1 July 2009, with a new employment and industrial regulatory framework to be completed and introduced on 1 January 2010. Furthermore, the Fair Work (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Bill 2009 was introduced on 19 March 2009 to deal with transitional matters in relation to the new employment and industrial framework.
Amongst other changes, significantly and relevantly, one of the main changes which will commence on 1 January 2010 is the introduction of common rule Federal Awards. For example, there is a possibility that a new Information Technology Industry Award will be created which will replace the current Information Technology Industry (Professional Employees) Award ('the IT Award') which would have the capacity to apply to all persons in the IT Industry throughout Australian irrespective of whether the Employer is a party to the Award or operating in the State of Victoria.