The Fair Work Act 2009 introduced both modern awards and the National Employment Standards (NES). The NES provides a set of minimum employment standards which are applicable to the great majority of Australian employees. Modern awards provide an additional range of employment conditions and must be read in conjunction with the NES. Workplace agreements, which were promoted by the previous industrial relations system (know as ‘WorkChoices’) no longer take such a prominent role. However, they remain a part of the industrial relations landscape and are available as collective agreements between an employer and its employees. Individual workplace agreements are no longer available, however. Employers who wish to have individual employment arrangements with their employees can still do this, however they now need to use individual employment contracts.
