FAIR WORK ACT 2009 - SECT 350C Workplace delegates and their rights

FAIR WORK ACT 2009 - SECT 350C

Meaning of workplace delegate

  (1)   A workplace delegate is a person appointed or elected, in accordance with the rules of an employee organisation, to be a delegate or representative (however described) for members of the organisation who work in a particular enterprise.

Rights of workplace delegates

  (2)   The workplace delegate is entitled to represent the industrial interests of those members, and any other persons eligible to be such members, including in disputes with their employer.

Note:   This section does not create any obligation on a person to be represented by a workplace delegate.

  (3)   The workplace delegate is entitled to:

  (a)   reasonable communication with those members, and any other persons eligible to be such members, in relation to their industrial interests ; and

  (b)   for the purpose of representing those interests:

  (i)   reasonable access to the workplace and workplace facilities where the enterprise is being carried on; and

  (ii)   unless the employer of the workplace delegate is a small business employer--reasonable access to paid time, during normal working hours, for the purposes of related training.

  (4)   The employer of the workplace delegate is taken to have afforded the workplace delegate the rights mentioned in subsection   (3) if the employer has complied with the delegates' rights term in the fair work instrument that applies to the workplace delegate.

  (5)   Otherwise, in determining what is reasonable for the purposes of subsection   (3), regard must be had to the following:

  (a)   the size and nature of the enterprise;

  (b)   the resources of the employer of the workplace delegate;

  (c)   the facilities available at the enterprise.