Workplace Relations and Superannuation Updates

With Royal Assent given on 4 December 2012 to the Fair Work Amendment Act 2012 , there are a number of important changes that have been introduced from 1 January 2013:

• Fair Work Australia (FWA) is now known as the Fair Work Commission (FWC) and the website has been moved to www.fwc.gov.au
• The time limit for employees to lodge an unfair dismissal application has increased from 14 to 21 days.
• The time limit for employees to lodge a general protections dismissal application will be reduced from 60 days to 21 days.

Therefore employees dismissed on or after 1 January 2013 will have 21 days from the date of dismissal to lodge either an unfair dismissal or a general protection dismissal application.

There are a number of changes to Enterprise Agreements with the most relevant being:

• an enterprise agreement cannot be made with a single employee
• terms allowing an employee to opt out of an enterprise agreement are prohibited

Superannuation

A number of superannuation changes will come into effect this year.

One of the biggest changes for both employers and employees will be the increase in the superannuation guarantee rate from 9% to 9.25% from 1 July 2013. The rate will continue to rise to 12% in increments until 2019-2020. The indicative timetable suggests changes of:

The rate change will not only affect future salary negotiations with employees, but salary packaging arrangements will need to be re-calculated to ensure employees do not exceed the concessional contribution cap of $25,000* pa and lose any benefits in additional tax.

*In 2012-2013 regardless of age, the concessional contributions cap is $25,000.

The other significant change will be the removal of the SGC age restriction. Currently SGC, stops once an employee reaches 70 years of age, this change means regardless of age, if you are working you are eligible for SGC.

If you require further information please contact Kelly Morgan on (02) 9238 1188.