Employment legislation
Employers and employees have certain obligations or duties to each other under common law, statutes and their accompanying regulations.
Industrial Relations legislation
The NSW Industrial Relations Act 1996 provides the opportunity for all parties to participate in matters that affect their working lives, secure in the knowledge that the system will safeguard their interests while facilitating maximum economic benefit.
The NSW Industrial Relations Act 1996 regulates employment in New South Wales by permitting the NSW Industrial Relations Commission to make awards and approve enterprise agreements specifying the conditions of employment for employees doing particular types of work.
Industrial awards set out legally enforceable terms and conditions of employment. Enterprise agreements, which are specific to a particular enterprise or project, also set out minimum conditions of employment.
Child Employment
In 2006, the NSW Government introduced the Industrial Relations (Child Employment) Act 2006 No 96 to provide fair conditions of work and employment protections for young workers under 18 years of age.
This law requires employers operating in the federal industrial relations system to provide pay and conditions at least equal to the NSW award which would have applied to the work (plus any applicable NSW industrial legislation such as the Annual Holidays Act 1944 ). Children employed by these employers will also have remedies for unfair dismissal.
The NSW Department of Services, Technology & Administration, Office of Industrial Relations administers the NSW Industrial Relations Act 1996 and the Industrial Relations (Child Employment Act) 2006 as well as the following legislation dealing with employment matters:
- Annual Holidays Act 1944 No 31
- Associated General Contractors Insurance Company Limited Act 1980 No 38
- Banks and Bank Holidays Act 1912 No 43 (except parts. Treasurer)
- Broken Hill Trades Hall Site Act 1898 No 31
- Broken Hill Trades Hall Site Extension Act 1915 No 42
- Builders Labourers Federation (Special Provisions) Act 1986 No 17
- Coal Industry (Industrial Matters) Act 1946 No 44
- Employment Protection Act 1982 No 122
- Entertainment Industry Act 1989 No 230
- Essential Services Act 1988 No 41 (except parts. Premier)
- Funeral Services Industry (Days of Operation) Repeal Act 2000 No 14
- Hairdressers Act 2003 No 62
- Industrial Relations (Ethical Clothing Trades) Act 2001 No 128
- Industrial Arbitration (Special Provisions) Act 1984 No 121
- Long Service Leave Act 1955 No 38
- Long Service Leave (Metalliferous Mining Industry) Act 1963 No 48
- Shops and Industries Act 1962 No 43 (repealed)
- Shop Trading Act 2008 No 49
