Fair Work Ombudsman for Commonwealth Parliament - myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theFair Work Ombudsman for Commonwealth Parliament. Answer: In Australia the workplace relation system is as per the Fair Work Act 2009 and various other laws and legislation. This covers almost entire of private sector employers and employees throughout the nation. The workplace relation legislations are enacted in the country by the Commonwealth Parliament (Australia.gov.au, 2018). Fair Work Ombudsman and Fair Work Commission oversee the practical application related to Fair Work Act within all the present workplaces. Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) helps all the employers, employees, wider communities and the communities to clearly understand its workplace responsibilities and rights. It also enforces compliance with regards to Australias workplace laws. Fair Work Ombudsmans office is an independent and statutory agency that is developed under Fair Work Act (FW Act). The head of the agency and Fair Work Ombudsman is Natalie James. The FWO is appointed to maintain harmonious and smooth relations in the workplace to protect the workers right. FWO is a statutory office holder appointed to enforce the right of employers and workers under Commonwealth workplace Laws. They highly contribute to create a better working environment in Australia. The FWO is generally supported by highly skilled and proficient staffs. They assist by performing advisory and compliance functions that is set out within the Fair Work Act (Vosko, Grundy Thomas, 2016). FWO has its offices established all over the Australian region. It is situated in almost all the regional areas of various states and territories besides the capital cities. The major role of Fair Work Ombudsman is to promote productive, cooperative and harmonious workplace relations. FWO investigates, monitors, inquiries into and enforces compliance law in the workplaces of Australia (Fairwork.gov.au, 2018). FWO free services include educating and creating awareness among the individuals about fair work obligations, rights and workplace in the country. FWO consists of a single point of contact to obtain timely and reliable information related to Australias workplace relation system. Moreover, assessing suspected breaches or complaints of the workplace awards, laws, few Fair Work Commission orders and registered agreements is the free services provided by FWOs. Litigating in few scenarios by enforcing workplace laws to save people from doing wrong within the community is another of its vital role (Webster, 2017). FWO also helps in building effective and strong relationships with unions, industry and major stakeholders. Fair Work Ombudsman performs various important functions that include promoting compliance related with the FW Act and proper work instruments. FWO commences court proceedings or make application to Fair Work Commission (FWC) to enforce the FW Act. FWO represent such employees, who may become or are party to the proceedings in court or party to a matter before the Fair Work Commission. They also refer the significant matters to the relevant authorities. As per Sutherland (2015) FWO has high jurisdiction that extends to most parts of the FW act and also to a certain part of the laws and regulations that regulates the independent contractors. Furthermore, the Fair Work Ombudsman acts to make sure the overseas workers are treated fairly while working in Australia. The FWO operates its functional activities in a very unique regulatory environment. In the Commonwealth workplace relation arena an inspector has always been present in one form or other since the year 1934. The major role of FWO is to provide education, ensure compliance related to provisions established in the Commonwealth workplace laws. As per Clibborn (2015) FWO is statutory agency of the highest professional and ethical standards that is accountable for its every decisions to public at large. Accountability is one of the major values of the Australian Public Services (APS) that helps to define their role as a major institution within the Australias democratic system. Being APS employees, every individual at FWO is accountable to the parliament and public for each of the decisions that have been made (Vosko, Grundy Thomas, 2016). The employees under FWO are also accountable for their performances and actions through frameworks and performance management systems. The FWO is responsible for undertaking various pro-activities related in the area of information, compliances and education that includes both the target campaigns and audits. FWO is capable to investigate or monitor such matters that relates to its own volition. In addition to this the FWO also receives several complaints from the general public regarding conditions of employment, wages and workplace rights. According to Forsyth (2016) within the FWO, the term complaint is defined as any such matter that is received by the Fair Work Ombudsman that involves allegation. It can be in verbal or written form and also includes expectation of redress that requires the FWO intervention. Generally, FWO refers to complaint parties as the complainant even if the matter is not raised directly from the aggrieved person. According to Barry and You, (2017) any such inquiry, investigation or complaint treatment into an alleged contravention of workplace laws should be undertaken efficiently and promptly. Employees of the FWO include Fair Work Inspectors showcases integrity, determination, honesty, responsiveness, proficiency and objectivity. They perform actions from their expertise and professional knowledge. FWO as an agency therefore continues to foster to maintain both international and national best practices. As per Clibborn (2015) the Fair Work Ombudsman functions as a statutory office holder is not only limited to determine the complaints for underpayment of wages. FWOs successful functions is therefore cannot be achieved just by adopting a mere restrictive focus. The employees working at FWO is highly proficient and committed to provide adequate advice to the individuals. The advices are relevant to be relied on and further help the employees and employers to resolve problems within the workplace. Fair Work Inspectors is appointed by FWO and are empowered to monitor as well as enforce compliance with the workplace laws and Industrial Instruments of Australia (Fairwork.gov.au, 2018). This includes various related provisions of the FW Act, like terms and conditions related to employment, pay-slip obligations and record-keeping. National Employment Standard is also covered within the laws and industrial instruments of workplace. According to Allen (2015) provision of the Independent Contractors Act 2006, which consists prohibited is investigated by the Fair Work Inspectors. Moreover, order of the Fair Work Commission is also monitored. Agreement- based transitional instruments and enterprise agreements are investigated. This covers Australian Workplace Agreements, Collective Agreements, Individual Transitional Employment Agreements and various others agreement that is made prior to 2009. Modern awards and award based transitional agreements for employment is also monitored by the FWO. This includes Notional Agreements Preserving State Awards, Federal Awards, Division 2B state awards and State Reference Transitional Awards (Australia.gov.au, 2018). The FWO provides all the employers and employees free advices and information on workplace rights, obligations, advice on pay and conditions. If any prospective employer is discriminating against an individual unlawfully then FWO comes to their assistance (Kellner et al., 2016). Fair Work Ombudsman has high responsibility for various novel initiatives so that the employers, employees and their related associations can avail benefits and get educated. This includes proper preparation and publication of the Fair Work Information Statements that the employers should provide to the new employees. Another major Fair Work Initiative includes publication for the best practice guides that recommends the best initiatives for medium and small businesses to be implemented. Moreover, Fair Work Ombudsman lays a sharper focus on using persuasive and educative techniques so that the workplace disputes are easily resolved. As per Kellner (2016) to the extent that FWO focuses on working with major parties so that productive, harmonious and cooperative relations is explicitly communicated to the existing community. This existing approach is most likely to be reciprocated by the parties to disputes, thereby increasing successful resolution chances. According to Charlesworth and Macdonald, (2014) transparency and integrity of the decision making process with regards to compliance activities and all its formal dispute resolution is important. This is vital to both the reputation and efficacy of the Fair Work Ombudsman. It is the duty of the FWO and senior executive to provide direction and control to Fair Work Inspectors. It is the duty of FWO employees to treat the public with courtesy and respect. The society expects high quality and prompts services from APS and it is the duty of FWO to maintain these standards by their positive contributions. Fair Work Inspectors facilitates in providing reasonable assistance to the interesting parties (Wilson Pender, 2017). They also help the public to clearly understand the individuals obligations and entitlements. The FWO also provides opportunity to the parties so that feedback is given to maintain smooth communication. Often feedback would also include certain grievance matters. The FWO also implements two states based campaigns each year minimum twice per state, according to the Portfolio Budget Statement. These campaigns should focus on a particular part of the state or should be state wise. In few cases, when some state faces similar issues, the FWO held joint campaign across states or territories. The programs related to state based campaign is evidence based; industry research is also taken into account. This also includes FEO complaint analysis and further endorsed by Director of Targeted Campaigns (Oliver Yu, 2017). Fair Work Ombudsman contributes a significant role to create a fair and better Australian Workplace. Natural justice is a broader concept and extends to such decisions, where public power is exercised. Therefore, it can be concluded that the core function of the FWO is to determine whether the overall requirements of Commonwealth workplace laws are adequately being observed or not. Henceforth, the Fair Work Inspectors actions can also affect the expectations of both employers and employees legitimately. This approach makes all the parties to act efficiently in accordance with the laws. FWO has a consistent and effective system to handle the entire request for reviews efficiently. They provide a mechanism for resolving grievances, obtaining clients feedback and also refining agency practices. References Allen, D. (2015). Wielding the big stick: lessons for enforcing anti-discrimination law from the Fair Work Ombudsman.Australian Journal of Human Rights,21(1), 119-142. Australia.gov.au. (2018).Fair Work Ombudsman | australia.gov.au.Australia.gov.au. Retrieved 22 March 2018, from https://www.australia.gov.au/directories/australia/fairwork Barry, M., You, K. (2017). 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