commercial nature of the relationship entered into and accordingly should have remained within that legislation. Recommendation 26 The protection for independent contractors should be removed from the and Fair Work Act dealt with under the 2006 (Cth). Independent Contractors Act Extended Provisions While the general protections provisions in the now extend to Fair Work Act ‘workplace rights’ and to circumstances arising during the employment (as opposed to the unlawful termination provisions in the 1996 (Cth)) that include entitlements Workplace Relations Act arising under a workplace law or instrument, such as a modern award or enterprise agreement, such protections already existed, in large part, in the NSW Victimisation Provisions, which include protections in circumstances where a person: (a) exercises functions conferred under the NSW Act; (b) claims a benefit to which the person is entitled under the industrial relations legislation or an industrial instrument; (c) informs any person of an alleged breach by an employer of the industrial relations legislation or of an industrial instrument; and (d) participates, or proposes to participate, in proceedings relating to an industrial matter. In circumstances where the NSW Victimisation Provisions had become inaccessible to employees covered by the federal legislation under both the Workchoices Legislation and the it was appropriate for similar provisions to be adopted at a Federal level. Fair Work Act, However, in doing so, the rights have been extended so that employees now have unprecedented by the inclusion of section 341(1) (c) (ii) of the Fair Work Act, ‘protection’ which provides protection as follows: A person has a workplace right if theperson is able to make a complaint or inquiry… if the … person is an employee in relation to his or her employment. … While at first glance this protection appears to contemplate the former protection against
commercial nature of the relationship entered into and accordingly should have remained within that legislation. Recommendation 26 The protection for independent contractors should be removed from the Fair Work Act and dealt with under the Independent Contractors Act 2006 (Cth). Extended Provisions While the general protections provisions in the Fair Work Act now extend to ‘workplace rights’ and to circumstances arising during the employment (as opposed to the unlawful termination provisions in the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cth)) that include entitlements arising under a workplace law or instrument, such as a modern award or enterprise agreement, such protections already existed, in large part, in the NSW Victimisation Provisions, which include protections in circumstances where a person: (a) exercises functions conferred under the NSW Act; (b) claims a benefit to which the person is entitled under the industrial relations legislation or an industrial instrument; (c) informs any person of an alleged breach by an employer of the industrial relations legislation or of an industrial instrument; and (d) participates, or proposes to participate, in proceedings relating to an industrial matter. In circumstances where the NSW Victimisation Provisions had become inaccessible to employees covered by the federal legislation under both the Workchoices Legislation and the Fair Work Act, it was appropriate for similar provisions to be adopted at a Federal level. However, in doing so, the rights have been extended so that employees now have unprecedented ‘protection’ by the inclusion of section 341(1) (c) (ii) of the Fair Work Act, which provides protection as follows: A person has a workplace right if theperson is … able to make a complaint or inquiry… if the person is an employee … in relation to his or her employment. While at first glance this protection appears to contemplate the former protection against
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