Employment and Workplace Relations Amendment Act 2009

The Employment and Workplace Relations Amendment Act 2009 is a Commonwealth amending Act. It changes two main areas of law. Schedule 1 deals with compensation under federal workplace injury schemes. Schedule 2 makes a range of amendments to social security legislation.

For businesses, the most practical part is Schedule 1. It increases key compensation amounts under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 and the Seafarers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1992, and it introduces Wage Price Index based indexation for those amounts from 1 July 2009. Schedule 2 is broader and more technical. It updates a number of social security provisions, including rules and references affecting youth allowance, Austudy, rent-related provisions, sickness allowance, international agreement provisions and job vacancy application requirements.

This is not a general rewrite of Australian employment law. It is an amending Act that changes specific provisions in existing Commonwealth legislation. The first practical question for any business is whether it is actually operating inside one of the federal compensation schemes named in Schedule 1. If not, the compensation changes are usually background only.

The compensation amendments are not a general update for every Australian employer. They apply to the federal schemes named in the Act.

The main organisations in scope are those covered by the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 and employers of workers covered by the Seafarers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1992. In practice, that points to Commonwealth bodies, organisations operating under the federal compensation framework, and maritime employers with seafarers covered by the seafarers legislation.

Most private sector employers are usually outside the direct compensation impact of this Act because they rely on state or territory workers compensation systems instead. If your business is an ordinary private employer with no federal compensation coverage, this page is more likely to be background information than a direct compliance guide.

The social security amendments are Commonwealth law changes that can affect individuals receiving payments, but they do not mean every employer suddenly becomes directly regulated by this Act. The main business question is whether your organisation sits inside one of the federal compensation schemes, and whether your staff or HR team may need to deal with payment-related information requests or employee queries arising from the social security changes.

Schedule 1 increases specific compensation amounts in both federal compensation Acts.

Under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988, the Act changes the amount in subsection 17(3) from $120,000 to $400,000, changes paragraph 17(4)(a) from $120,000 to $400,000, and changes subsection 17(5) from $40 to $110.

Under the Seafarers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1992, the Act changes paragraphs 29(3)(a) and 29(4)(a) from $151,167.84 to $412,000, and changes subsection 29(5) from $50.38 to $113.30.

These are material increases, not drafting clean-ups. They affect the statutory amounts used for death-related compensation and weekly payments for children under the relevant federal schemes. If your organisation handles claims under either Act, those figures matter for claims administration, reserving, insurer instructions and internal guidance.

The Act also separates these amounts from the older Consumer Price Index based mechanism by removing them from the relevant amount definitions used in the Consumer Price Index provisions and creating new Wage Price Index provisions for them instead. That means covered employers should not assume the old indexation approach still applies to these particular amounts after the amendments took effect.

The Act changes how certain compensation amounts are indexed. For the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988, it inserts section 13AA. For the Seafarers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1992, it inserts section 23A. In both cases, the new provisions use the Wage Price Index for the relevant amounts specified in the death and child payment provisions.

The Wage Price Index used is the index published by the Australian Statistician for total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses, all sectors, all Australia, original, unless another prescribed series applies. The relevant year starts with the financial year beginning on 1 July 2009 and continues for later financial years.

In practical terms, if the indexation factor for a relevant year is greater than one, the legislation treats the relevant amount as replaced on the first day of that financial year by the indexed amount. The Act also includes rules about rounding, substituted index numbers and changes to the reference base used by the Australian Statistician.

This matters because the Wage Price Index and the Consumer Price Index measure different things. The Consumer Price Index tracks changes in the prices of goods and services. The Wage Price Index tracks changes in wages. By moving these compensation amounts to a wage-based measure, the Act ties future increases to wage movement rather than general consumer inflation.

For a business, the practical point is simple. Do not rely only on the 2009 dollar figures. If you are dealing with a current claim under one of these federal schemes, you need the current indexed amount that applies for the relevant financial year.

The Act has staggered commencement and application rules, and those details matter.

The Act received Royal Assent on 3 June 2009. Schedule 1 items 1 and 2 commenced on 1 July 2009. Schedule 1 items 3, 4 and 5 are taken to have commenced on 13 May 2008. Schedule 1 items 6 and 7 commenced on 3 June 2009. Schedule 1 items 8 to 13 commenced on 4 June 2009.

For the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988, the application rules distinguish between the amount increases and the new indexation mechanism. The amendments introducing the Wage Price Index mechanism, to the extent they relate to subsections 17(3) and 17(4), apply to deaths occurring on or after 1 July 2009. The direct amount increases to $400,000 apply to deaths occurring on or after 13 May 2008. For subsection 17(5), the Wage Price Index mechanism applies to payments for weeks beginning on or after 1 July 2009, while the increase to $110 applies to payments for weeks beginning on or after 13 May 2008.

For the Seafarers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1992, the Wage Price Index mechanism, to the extent it relates to subsections 29(3) and 29(4), applies to deaths occurring on or after 1 July 2009. The increase to $412,000 applies to deaths occurring at or after the commencement of item 10, which was 4 June 2009. For subsection 29(5), the Wage Price Index mechanism applies to payments for weeks beginning on or after 1 July 2009, while the increase to $113.30 applies to payments for weeks beginning at or after the commencement of item 11, which was 4 June 2009.

Schedule 2 also has mixed commencement dates. Many items commenced on 4 June 2009. Items 26 to 32 commenced on 1 January 2008. Item 42 commenced immediately after the commencement of item 18 of Schedule 2 to the Social Security Legislation Amendment (2007 Budget Measures for Students) Act 2007, recorded as 28 September 2007. Schedule 2 Part 2 Division 2 was set to commence on 1 July 2009, but only if the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Employment Services Reform) Act 2009 received Royal Assent before that date. The Act states that if that condition was not met, those provisions would not commence at all.

Schedule 2 is extensive and mostly technical. It amends the Social Security Act 1991, the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999, the Social Security (International Agreements) Act 1999 and the Social Security Legislation Amendment (2007 Budget Measures for Students) Act 2007.

The changes include repealing or updating definitions and provisions, adjusting rules relevant to youth allowance and Austudy calculations, changing rent-related provisions in section 1070X, adding an assurance of support rule for sickness allowance, and updating references connected with job vacancy application requirements. It also amends provisions dealing with international agreements and parenting payment assumptions.

For most employers, these amendments do not create a standalone compliance program. They are more likely to matter indirectly, for example where an employee is receiving a social security payment and needs employment details, or where HR staff are asked to confirm work arrangements or income information. If your business supports employees who interact with Services Australia, accuracy and prompt record handling remain important.

The job vacancy amendments are also narrower than they may first appear. The Act updates references in paragraph 541A(g) and (h) of the Social Security Act 1991, first to subsections 550A(1) and (2), and then, in the later division, to subsection 42F(1) and (2) of the Administration Act if the conditional commencement rule was met. That is a legislative cross-reference update, not a broad new employer duty to police employee job search activity.

If your organisation is covered by one of the federal compensation schemes, the practical job is not to memorise the amending Act. It is to make sure your operating documents and systems reflect the amended law.

Claims manuals, internal guidance, insurer instructions and template correspondence dealing with death benefits or weekly child payments should align with the amended amounts and the Wage Price Index based annual indexation. If your organisation self-insures or manages claims internally, reserving and budgeting should also reflect the higher statutory exposure. If an external insurer or claims manager handles this work, your business should still confirm that the correct federal scheme and current indexed amounts are being used.

For social security related interactions, the safest approach is administrative accuracy. Keep payroll and employment records current, respond carefully to lawful requests for employment information, and avoid giving staff informal advice about payment eligibility unless you are certain of the position.

Most businesses do not need to rewrite employment contracts because of this Act alone. The more immediate operational focus is claims handling, scheme identification, date checking and use of the correct indexed statutory figures. That is usually more important than broad policy rewriting.

Before relying on this page, confirm three things. First, confirm that your organisation is actually covered by the federal compensation legislation rather than a state or territory workers compensation scheme. Second, identify which date rule applies to the event you are dealing with, because the Act uses different commencement and application dates for different items. Third, check the current consolidated legislation and any current indexed amounts, because this Act set the 2009 amendments and the relevant amounts may have changed through later annual indexation or later amendments.

If you are dealing with a live claim, a historical death, a weekly child payment period, or a question about whether a social security amendment commenced at all, the exact date and legislative pathway matter. Use the current consolidated text and, where needed, obtain advice specific to the scheme and facts.

This page is based on the Commonwealth Act as published on the Federal Register of Legislation. The Act is titled Employment and Workplace Relations Amendment Act 2009, No. 37, 2009. The official source records Royal Assent on 3 June 2009 and sets out the commencement table and the amendments in Schedules 1 and 2.

View the Act on the Federal Register of Legislation