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Women
New Legislation to Benefit Women Workers
By Sue Williamson
Industrial/Research Officer
Queensland has legislated for equal pay for women and men workers, has new powers to set minimum wages for all employees, and has introduced new family friendly provisions.
The Queensland Industrial Relations Act 1999 has been amended to extend workers' entitlements and a raft of new measures will benefit women workers, particularly casual workers.
Valuing Worth, the report arising from The Qld Pay Equity Inquiry contained a recommendation that the Qld Industrial Relations Commission be empowered to set a minimum wage for non-award employees. The amendments to the IR Act implements this recommendation and will benefit 22 000 to 35 500 workers - many of whom are women employed as nannies, cleaners etc and who currently earn less than the minimum wage.
The IR Act has also been amended to ensure that awards and agreements provide equal pay for men and women workers who perform work of equal or comparable value. An enterprise agreement must contain such provisions for it to be certified.
New family friendly provisions have also been enacted, including:
- casual employees can now access unpaid parental leave after 12 months of continuous employment. This has been reduced from 24 months;
- Casual employees with 12 months service can also access unpaid carer's and bereavement leave, and
- The IR Act now also protects casual employees against dismissal on a range of discriminatory grounds, including pregnancy, adoption, applying for or taking parental leave, race, gender or age.
The legislative amendments are effective as of 1 May 2002.
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