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Hotels salvage small wins from Fair Work Act Review

06/08/2012 - Australia’s hotel industry has welcomed common sense recommendations on public holiday pay and alignment of time limits for unfair dismissal and adverse action claims, but says further changes to Fair Work Act are needed.

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Australian Hotels Association (AHA) National CEO Des Crowe said while hotels will be pushing for more changes than those recommended in the Fair Work Act Review released last week, it was pleasing that two of the AHA's key recommendations were accepted by the panel.

"Limiting the number of paid public holidays to 11 per year is something we strongly support, having called for this change both in our submission and in our meeting with the Fair Work Review Panel earlier this year", Crowe said.

"The loaded penalty rates that apply on public holidays are particularly problematic for the hospitality industry and we will be urging the government to take up this recommendation to provide employers in our sector with some certainty.

"The AHA put this position on public holidays forward in its meeting with the Panel and will be seeking opportunities to highlight its importance to our industry as the government considers its response to the report.

"Another key plank of the AHA's platform was aligning the time limits for making unfair dismissal and adverse action claims.

The panel has recommended aligning these to 21 days each, which falls short of the seven-day period preferred by the AHA but is a step in the right direction. To achieve the desired effect, employees must also be required to better substantiate their claims in fairness to the employer.

"Overall, the report does not go far enough in addressing the structural problems facing small business employers under the Fair Work Act.

"The AHA will encourage the government to secure the passage of the recommendations we support from the report, but we will also be urging the government to go further and make changes in addition to those recommended by the Panel."

Source: Australian Hotels Association

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