Workplace Ombudsman Annual Report 2008–09 Creating fairer Australian workplaces © Commonwealth of Australia 2009 ISSN: 1834-1462 This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the Australian Government, available from the Attorney-General’s Department. Requests and enquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to the Commonwealth Copyright Administration, Copyright Law Branch, Attorney-General’s Department, National Circuit, Barton, ACT 2601, or posted at http://www.ag.gov.au/cca. Produced by the Fair Work Ombudsman. Acknowledgements Printed by Bluestar IQ (02) 6230 6200 Written and edited by Refresh Communications (03) 9836 3916 Designed by CRE8IVE (02) 6162 1888 Photos by Cole Bennetts 0415 982 662, Boardroom Photography 0402 941 564 and Mark Chew (03) 9529 4055 Workplace Ombudsman Annual Report 2008–09 Creating fairer Australian workplaces GPO Box 9887 Melbourne VIC 3001 | 414 LaTrobe Street Melbourne VIC 3000 P: (03) 9954 2611 F: (02) 6264 5367 E: [email protected] Hon. Julia Gillard MP Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Parliament House CANBERRA ACT 2600 Dear Deputy Prime Minister I have pleasure in submitting to you the annual report of the Office of the Workplace Ombudsman, covering the period 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009. Section 70 of the Public Service Act 1999 requires me to provide you with a report to present to Parliament. This report has been prepared in accordance with the guidelines approved on behalf of the Parliament by the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit. Yours sincerely Nicholas Wilson FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN 17 September 2009 Fair Work Infoline: 13 13 94 www.fairwork.gov.au ABN: 43 884 188 232 Contents About this report iv Performance snapshot vi Workplace Ombudsman’s review 1 Workplace Ombudsman’s review 2 Overview of services 5 Creating fairer Australian workplaces 6 Report on performance 11 Output Group 1.1—Education and compliance services 12 Legal and Advice Branch 27 External Affairs Branch 32 Field Services Branch 34 Agency Transition Unit 38 Management and accountability 41 Corporate governance 42 External scrutiny 45 Management of human resources 46 Business services 52 Purchaser–provider arrangements 52 Analysis of financial performance 53 Financial statements 55 Appendices 99 Appendix A—Staffing profile 100 Appendix B—Occupational health and safety 104 Appendix C—Freedom of information 105 Appendix D—Consultancies and competitive tendering and contracting 109 Appendix E—Other mandatory information 111 References 115 Glossary 116 Abbreviations and acronyms 117 Compliance index 118 Index 120 About this report The Workplace Ombudsman is a statutory agency that was created by the Workplace Relations Act 1996 on 28 June 2007. This is the second and final annual report for the Workplace Ombudsman, formerly known as the Office of Workplace Services (OWS). The Workplace Ombudsman was abolished on 30 June 2009 and its functions moved to the newly created Fair Work Ombudsman. This report documents the activities and performance of the Workplace Ombudsman to 30 June 2009. As a key accountability document, it complies with the Requirements for Annual Reports prepared by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and approved by the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit. Structure The report is presented in six parts. Overview and description An introduction to the agency, with a review of its operations by the Workplace Ombudsman and an overview of its structure and function. Report on performance A report on the agency’s performance in relation to the outcome and output framework described in the 2008–09 Portfolio Budget Statements and Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements. This section includes performance reporting against the output group for the whole of 2008–09. Management and accountability A report on the agency’s management practices, including the corporate governance framework, human and financial resources, internal controls, external scrutiny and financial management. Financial performance reporting Includes the audited financial statements for 2008–09, the audit report and commentary on the agency’s financial performance. Appendices Includes mandatory information and statistics. References Includes a glossary and a list of abbreviations, a compliance index and a general index. vi Workplace Ombudsman Annual Report 2008–09 Readers This report is provided to the Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. It is also designed to inform staff, other government agencies, the media, researchers, students and interested citizens. Online Annual Report An online version of this report is available in the Annual Reports section of the Fair Work Ombudsman website http://www.fwo.gov.au/info/Annual-Report. Annual Report enquiries The Fair Work Ombudsman welcomes comment on this report. Enquiries and feedback may be directed to: Annual Report Coordinator Fair Work Ombudsman GPO Box 9887 Melbourne VIC 3001 Telephone: (02) 8293 4631 Facsimile: (02) 6276 9001 Email: [email protected] Internet homepage: http://www.fwo.gov.au About this report vii Performance snapshot During 2008–09 the Workplace Ombudsman achieved the following results through working with our community: › Recovered $32,489,904 for 28,648 employees. › Finalised 99% of complaints without legal action. › Finalised 23,338 investigations from complaints. › Launched national Workplace Rights Week. › Responded to 107,403 telephone enquiries. › Secured $1,621,206 in court-awarded penalties. › Recruited more than 70 ongoing and 100 non-ongoing staff. › Delivered 14,407 training hours to staff nationally. › Increased accessibility of our services to non-English speaking people by expanding translated website material to 23 languages. › Established and implemented national service delivery processes. › Closed 28,082 Fairness Test matters and 3743 No Disadvantage Test investigations. viii Workplace Ombudsman Annual Report 2008–09 Workplace Ombudsman’s review Workplace Ombudsman’s review The Workplace Ombudsman’s achievements in the past year have been aimed at ensuring greater effectiveness. As the independent workplace regulator, the Workplace Ombudsman ensures employers, employees, contractors and their representatives are fully informed and confident of their workplace rights and responsibilities. In doing this, the Workplace Ombudsman firmly demonstrates the need for compliance with Australia’s workplace relations laws and the consequences of non-observance. This annual report highlights the many ways we have worked in partnership with the community to promote fairness and ensure justice in Australian workplaces. The Workplace Ombudsman acts independently and impartially when complaints are made about workplace relations breaches. As far as possible, we seek voluntary compliance, although we regularly use firmer compliance methodologies, including litigation in the Courts, either where the circumstances of the case warrant Court consideration, or where there is severe or wilful wrong- doing. This can include circumstances where a breach is significant, relates to a vulnerable worker or group, or where one party is unwilling to recognise and fix the problem. I am continually impressed by what the agency has been able to achieve through the client-focused thinking of our people. In particular, this year saw the Workplace Ombudsman expand its suite of creative compliance tools, opening up more avenues for creating fairer Australian workplaces. Compliance tools include proactive targeted campaigns, education, use of the media, working closely with stakeholders and, where appropriate, prosecution. Our reputation as a strong, fair, independent regulator has prompted a number of very large companies to voluntarily come forward with admissions about contraventions of the Workplace Relations Act 1996. As a result, enforceable undertakings – as an alternative to litigation – became part of our creative compliance suite in 2008. We have vigorously tackled our compliance role through effectively balancing and testing all these approaches to compliance. Indeed, many of our investigations have taken us into previously unchartered waters, thereby strengthening our capacity. Our results speak for themselves. In the year to 30 June 2009, the Workplace Ombudsman recovered $32,489,904 for 28,648 employees. Our Workplace Inspectors finalised 23,338 complaints about breaches of workplace relations laws. Ninety-nine per cent of these complaints were finalised without resorting to litigation. 2 Workplace Ombudsman Annual Report 2008–09 At 30 June 2009 penalties awarded by courts around the country reached a total of more than $1.6 million. This illustrates the seriousness with which the judiciary views breaches of Commonwealth workplace relations law and the impact this has on individuals, particularly vulnerable workers. It is a particularly sobering reminder of the need for every employer to be constantly vigilant in meeting their workplace obligations. Our targeted campaign activities have focused on industries that generate the most complaints and those that we have not previously examined. In the past 12 months our Workplace Inspectors have finalised 7080 targeted compliance audits. We have continued to develop community awareness and educate employees and employers of their rights and responsibilities through diverse communications