Purpose:

To regulate the relationship between employers and employees in South Australia by establishing a framework for fair and equitable industrial matters, including remuneration, employment conditions, dispute resolution, and promoting freedom of association and non-discrimination.

Objectives:

• To promote goodwill in industry.
• To contribute to the economic prosperity and welfare of the people of South Australia.
• To facilitate industrial efficiency and flexibility, and improve the productiveness of South Australian industry.
• To promote and facilitate employment.
• To encourage enterprise agreements that are relevant, flexible and appropriate.
• To provide for awards that are relevant, flexible and expressed in non-technical language.
• To provide a framework for making enterprise agreements, awards and determinations affecting industrial matters that is fair and equitable to both employers and employees.
• To establish and maintain an effective safety net of fair and enforceable conditions for the performance of work by employees (including fair wages).
• To promote and facilitate security in employment.
• To encourage prevention and settlement of industrial disputes by amicable agreement, and to provide a means of conciliation for that purpose.
• To provide a means for settling industrial disputes that cannot be resolved by amicable agreement as expeditiously as possible and with a minimum of legal formality and technicality.
• To ensure compliance with agreements and awards made for the prevention or settlement of industrial disputes, and to ensure compliance with any obligations arising under this Act.
• To provide employees with an avenue for expressing employment-related grievances and having them considered and remedied including provisions for a right to the review of harsh, unjust or unreasonable dismissals.
• To provide for absolute freedom of association and choice of industrial representation.
• To encourage the democratic control of representative associations of employers or employees, and the full participation by members in their affairs.
• To help prevent and eliminate unlawful discrimination in the workplace.
• To promote and facilitate gender equity.
• To ensure equal remuneration for men and women doing work of equal or comparable value.
• To facilitate the effective balancing of work and family responsibilities.
• To facilitate the establishment and operation of a national industrial relations system based on co-operative federalism.

Key Provisions:

• Jurisdiction of the South Australian Employment Tribunal (SAET) to adjudicate employment rights and liabilities, approve enterprise agreements, make awards, interpret industrial instruments, and resolve industrial disputes.
• Regulation of general conditions of employment including accrual and form of wages, and minimum standards for remuneration, sick leave/carer’s leave, bereavement leave, family and domestic violence leave, annual leave, parental leave, and severance payments.
• Framework for the negotiation, approval, and effect of enterprise agreements, including requirements for consultation, employee consent, and adherence to minimum standards.
• Powers of SAET to regulate industrial matters by award, including special provisions for child labour and trial work.
• Special provisions for outworkers, including the establishment of a code of practice and mechanisms for the recovery of unpaid remuneration.
• Requirements for employers to keep detailed records of employees, work times, wages, and leave, and to provide copies of awards or enterprise agreements to employees.
• Provisions for unfair dismissal, setting out the grounds for dismissal assessment, available remedies, and conditions for re-employment or compensation.
• Protection of freedom of association, prohibiting discrimination based on union membership or non-membership, and regulating the registration and conduct of employer and employee associations.
• Powers of inspectors to investigate non-compliance, conduct audits, and issue compliance notices to enforce obligations arising from employment.

Evidence of Compliance Requirements For Agricultural Organisations:

• Employers must maintain comprehensive records for all employees, including their names and addresses, a detailed time book recording daily work commencement and cessation times (with meal and break notations) and the wages paid with payment dates, records of all granted annual, sick, parental, and long service leave, and the date of birth for employees under 21 years of age, ensuring all records are kept in English and retained for a period of 7 years after the date of the last entry (Section 102).
• Verification of time book entries is required, where, if the time book is in writing, it must be verified by the employee’s signature on or as soon as practicable after each pay day, and if kept electronically, a printout of the relevant entries must be similarly verified by signature and these signed printouts retained as evidence (Section 102).
• Employers are obligated to produce records upon reasonable request: for an employee or former employee, related records must be produced for copying or extracting; for an inspector, specified employee records must be produced for copying or extracting, and reasonable evidence of wage payments, calculation details, and any unpaid amounts must be provided (Section 102).
• Upon transfer or assignment of a business, the transferor or assignor must transmit all relevant employee records to the transferee or assignee, transferring the employer’s obligations in relation to those records (Section 102).
• When paying wages, employers must provide employees with a pay slip detailing the employer’s name, the payment amount, the employment period to which it relates, the number of ordinary and overtime hours worked and the rates of pay if the employee is paid hourly or based on time worked, and the name and amount of any superannuation contribution made (Section 102).
• Employers bound by an award or enterprise agreement must, upon an employee’s request, produce a copy of the award or agreement as soon as practicable for examination and provide a physical copy within 14 days, unless a copy was provided within the last 12 months or SAET has relieved this obligation; a copy of the award or agreement must also be exhibited at a place reasonably accessible to employees, unless suppressed from public disclosure (Section 103).
• Before beginning negotiations for an enterprise agreement, an employer must provide employees who may be bound by the agreement at least 14 days’ notice in accordance with regulations, inform employees of their right to representation in negotiation and approval (including by an agent of choice or registered association), and, if aware of employee membership, take reasonable steps to inform the relevant registered association (Section 76).
• Employers must ensure employees have reasonable access to any applicable award during enterprise agreement negotiations, and all parties involved in negotiations must comply with required procedures and formalities, using their best endeavours to resolve issues by agreement, meeting at reasonable times/places, stating and explaining positions, disclosing relevant/necessary information, acting openly/honestly, adhering to agreed procedures/outcomes, and meeting agreed timetables (Sections 76, 76A).
• Enterprise agreements must be in writing, clearly define the bound employer and employee group, include procedures for preventing and settling industrial disputes, make provisions for sick leave for family members (unless specifically excluded), and provide for renegotiation at the end of their term, and be signed by or on behalf of the employer and employee group as required by regulation (Section 77).
• For approval of an enterprise agreement, SAET must be satisfied that reasonable steps were taken to inform employees about the agreement’s terms and the intention to seek approval, explain its effect (including identifying superseded industrial instruments, differences from prior agreements, dispute procedures, and representation rights), and confirm the agreement was negotiated without coercion with genuine employee consent (Section 79).
• The agreement must provide for consultation between the employer and employees regarding changes to work organisation and performance, or explicitly state that such consultation is not appropriate, and must not offer remuneration or conditions inferior to statutory minimum standards or to existing awards when considered as a whole (Section 79).
• When a ballot is used to indicate employee agreement to an enterprise agreement, SAET must be satisfied that all employees had a reasonable opportunity to participate, the ballot adhered to prescribed rules, and a majority of valid votes were in favour (Section 79).
• Registered associations that enter an enterprise agreement as a representative must not disclose to the employer which employees authorised the association to act on their behalf, unless specifically authorised in writing by the employee or required by SAET, and approved agreements must be lodged in the Registrar’s office for public inspection, unless SAET orders specific parts to be confidential (Section 80).
• Employers and other persons in specified industries or sectors may be required by a code of practice to adopt particular standards of conduct and practice concerning outworkers, which may include arrangements for outworker remuneration, reimbursements, and compensation (Section 99C).
• An outworker can initiate a claim for unpaid remuneration against an apparent responsible contractor by serving a written notice within 6 months of work completion, detailing the outworker’s name, contact address, work description, dates of work, and the amount claimed, with these particulars verified by statutory declaration (Section 99D).
• An apparent responsible contractor may, within 14 days of receiving an unpaid remuneration claim, refer the claim to the designated employer by advising the outworker in writing of the employer’s name and address and serving a copy of the claim on that employer (Section 99E).
• An inspector, upon entering a workplace, must produce their identity card for inspection by the occupier or person in charge (Section 219C).
• Employers must, at all reasonable times, facilitate an inspector’s exercise of powers, including permitting entry, inspection of work/processes/things, and questioning persons on relevant employment or industrial matters (Section 219C).
• Inspectors may require the production of time books, paysheets, notices, records, lists, or other required documents for inspection, examination, and copying, and may retain documents for 7 days for examination/copying, but cannot retain originals if copies are provided or if needed for day-to-day operations (Section 219C).
• If an employer has failed to comply with the Act, an award, or an enterprise agreement, an inspector may issue a compliance notice requiring specific remedial action and evidence of compliance within a stated period, with non-compliance constituting an offence (Section 219D).
• Employers must not terminate an employee’s employment unless the employee has received the required period of notice (1 to 4 weeks depending on continuous service, plus an additional week for employees over 45 with at least 2 years’ service) or compensation in lieu thereof, unless the employee is guilty of serious misconduct (Schedule 8, Clause 1).
• Termination of employment for reasons related to an employee’s conduct or performance is prohibited unless the employee has been given an opportunity to defend themselves against the allegations, or if providing such an opportunity could not reasonably be expected (Schedule 8, Clause 2).
• Employers must adhere to any rules and procedures prescribed by regulation concerning termination of employment, which are designed to give full effect to the Termination of Employment Convention (Schedule 8, Clause 3).
• Employers must provide sick leave and carer’s leave in accordance with minimum standards: sick leave accrues at ⁵⁄₂₆ of a day per completed week for the first year and 10 days annually thereafter; employees must provide timely notice of sickness (nature and duration) and, if requested, a medical certificate or reasonable evidence; up to 5 days of sick leave entitlement can be used annually for family care, with similar notice and evidence requirements; all sick and carer’s leave must be paid at full or pro-rata rates (Schedule 3).
• Employers must provide bereavement leave: 2 days for the death of a family member, taken at the employee’s discretion within a specified period or as agreed, with the employee providing reasonable evidence of death and relationship if requested; paid at full or pro-rata rates (Schedule 3A).
• Employers must provide 15 days of family and domestic violence leave annually, which does not accrue, for purposes arising from violence experienced by the employee (e.g., medical, legal, safety arrangements), requiring timely notice and evidence that satisfies the purpose without disclosing details of the violence; this leave must be paid at the full rate for non-casual employees and for rostered hours for casual employees (Schedule 3B).
• Employers must ensure that pay slips do not include information indicating that leave taken was family and domestic violence leave, or that an amount paid was for such leave, or the balance of this leave entitlement (Schedule 3B).
• Employers must provide annual leave in accordance with minimum standards: 4 weeks for each completed year of continuous service, with prorated entitlement for partial years upon employment termination; annual leave is taken by agreement or employer direction (with 2 weeks’ notice for specific reasons) and must commence within 12 months of accrual if directed; paid at full or pro-rata rates, with monetary equivalent paid out upon termination (Schedule 4).
• Employers must provide unpaid parental leave of up to 52 weeks for birth or adoption, provided the employee has 12 months continuous service and gives 10 weeks written notice; male and female employees generally cannot take leave simultaneously (except for one week); medical certificates and notice of spouse’s leave (verified by statutory declaration if required) are necessary; start/finish dates are agreed but must be within one year of birth/adoption; employees are entitled to return to their former or a similar position (Schedule 5).

Metadata Keywords:

Industrial Relations, Employment Law, Workplace Standards, South Australia, Fair Work, Employer Obligations, Employee Rights, Awards, Enterprise Agreements, Outworkers, Dispute Resolution, Leave Entitlements, Unfair Dismissal, Freedom of Association, Record Keeping

Publication Information:

Publication date: 1 December 2024 Version number: 1.12.2024

Agricultural Industry Alignment:

Not specified in document.

Date Added to database:

This document was parsed and added to the database on 25-07-2025

URL:

https://www.legislation.sa.gov.au/__legislation/lz/c/a/fair%20work%20act%201994/current/1994.52.auth.pdf →