Employers are required to consult with employees over proposed changes in technology or the organisation of work which are likely to have significant effects on employees.

“Significant effects” include termination of employment, the elimination or diminution of job opportunities, promotional opportunities, job tenure or the use of skills, the alteration of hours of work, the need for retraining and the transfer to other locations.

The requirement to consult employees and their representatives over organisational change has been in place for decades, is a feature of our enterprise agreements and is mandatory under the Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2010 which applies where there is no enterprise agreement.

Notwithstanding that consultation is mandatory before organisational change can be implemented; employers continue to flout this requirement.

In recent times we have had to take the Australian Red Cross Blood Service to Fair Work Australia to ensure that consultation over proposed changes to the organisation of work in Inventory & Distribution, prior to any implementation. Consultation means genuine discussion, and that the employer must take into account any proposals which might lessen or eliminate the adverse effects of proposed changes.

We also currently have an action against Dorevitch Pathology in the Federal Court over breach of the requirement to consult.