Page 4069 - Week 13 - Thursday, 31 October 2013
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Amendments also put beyond doubt that apprentices carrying out building and construction work through a registered training organisation must be registered for the scheme. The government is strongly committed to supporting and encouraging apprentices. For that reason, employers that register apprentices are not charged a levy even though the apprentices can begin to earn long service leave. The authority also works with the Education and Training Directorate to make sure employers know how to register their apprentices.
It is important that workers that are eligible for a portable scheme are registered. The bill supports this objective by clarifying that senior staff who directly supervise workers on building and construction sites should themselves be registered.
The act currently provides for the responsible minister to provide certainty in specific circumstances by declaring whether or not a person is a worker or an employer for a portable scheme. The bill clarifies when it is appropriate to exercise this power and the matters that should be included in a ministerial direction. It also makes clear that the power may be exercised in relation to both individuals and classes of people under the act.
The bill also addresses a number of technical and administrative matters brought to my attention by the ACT Long Service Leave Authority. Since the act was last amended, the authority has worked closely with the Office of Industrial Relations to review how the law operates in practice. As part of this process, several small but important changes were identified that would assist the authority to more readily interpret and apply the law in specific circumstances.
The definition of ordinary remuneration will be changed to add additional detail, explicitly dealing with payments for workers compensation, superannuation and termination of employment. The new definition also clarifies that travel, meal and protective clothing allowances are not ordinary remuneration for the purposes of the act. These changes reflect longstanding practice by the authority in administering the schemes.
Changes will also be made to put it beyond doubt that the registrar has no power to re-register a worker with a new registration date where that worker is already registered with a portable scheme.
The bill will also allow courts to require an employer to pay late fees or levies they owe without finding them guilty of an offence under the act. The bill provides improved certainty and flexibility for the authority in managing the funds of each portable scheme under the direction of the governing board.
Amendments will clarify what comprises authority money and expressly allow that money to be applied in payment of the authority’s administrative costs. It also explicitly allows the authority to establish a common fund to pay joint expenses and obligations and to invest moneys jointly on behalf of more than one covered industry.
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