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New industrial relations laws that impose stricter redundancy rules may not change the more distasteful practices within the financial services industry.
Employment and workplace law specialist Lisa Berton of Kemp Strang Lawyers said that new requirements under the Fair Work Act mean that the process of redundancy will be more complex, and employers will have to adhere to further requirements to prove genuine redundancy.
However, not everyone will enjoy the benefits of extended rights.
Finance Sector Union national director Rod Masson said there are often better outcomes for members of a union, stating that companies that the union has better relationships with (like the major banks) disclose more fully where, when and how many employees will have to be made redundant.
“We then ensure that those people have access to career counselling, are paid all their entitlements, or that redeployment options are exhausted before redundancy occurs,” said Masson.
He said these relationships ensure that when redundancies are necessary, the dignity of the individual is the paramount concern.
But Masson said people are more susceptible to bad industry practices when the workforce is not unionised, and pointed out that certain institutions can be ruthless.
“When Macquarie, for example, decides to drop the axe they actually make people pack their boxes and they march them off the shop floor. We think that is a very disturbing practice, and should not be happening anywhere,” he said.
Macquarie Group was approached for comment but a spokesperson stated that they do not comment on employment or redundancy issues.
Sarah Thomas of Argyle Lawyers said employers can exclude modern award and notional agreements preserving State awards or modern awards by a guarantee of annual earnings.
“I think employers will start to slip that into [employee agreements] so that the employee will be straight under the legislation and the contract, and not an award,” she said.
She said another issue is that those earning above a certain amount cannot make an unfair dismissal claim, and are therefore excluded from requirements under the law that would apply to those earning less — such as redeployment and counselling requirements.
“If they are a higher-income earner, they can be treated more harshly without being able to make a claim,” she said.
Berton said it is true that there are often better outcomes when there is union involvement. But she pointed out that a few of her clients in the financial services sector had quite generous redundancy packages or policies even before the new legislative changes.
She has also noticed that more companies are formulating their redundancy policies as an incentive to attract talent.
