Page 1140 - Week 04 - Thursday, 29 March 1990
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Debate (on motion by Mr Berry) adjourned.
LONG SERVICE LEAVE (BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY)
(AMENDMENT) BILL 1990
MR DUBY (Minister for Finance and Urban Services) (5.18): I present the Long Service Leave (Building and Construction Industry) (Amendment) Bill 1990. I move:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
The Long Service Leave (Building and Construction Industry) Act 1981 established a scheme which enables workers in the ACT building and construction industry to accrue long service credits for work in that industry. Credits continue to accumulate if a worker moves between employers and may accumulate across States if the State concerned is a party to a long service leave credit portability agreement. The scheme is funded by a levy, currently 2.5 per cent of ordinary wages on employers in the industry.
The levy is paid into a fund, administered by the Building and Construction Industry Long Service Leave Board. The three-member board is appointed by the Minister - myself - and comprises one employer and one employee representative and an independent chair. Similar schemes exist in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia.
The amendments to the Act have been prepared, following consultation between the board and the relevant employee and employer organisations. The amendments cover three distinct areas. The first area involves the calculation of the long service leave entitlement and payment of that entitlement to employees. For several years the Australian Audit Office has been critical of the Act for providing the board with the discretionary power in calculating a worker's entitlement; and of the board, for failing to process payments exactly in accordance with the Act.
At present, where a worker's weekly average wage is less than normal, owing to unpaid sick leave or some other circumstance, then the board may apply the normal weekly average wage for the purpose of calculating the worker's long service leave entitlement.
The Bill removes this discretion and requires the board to pay the greater of two calculations of the entitlement. The first calculation is based on the worker's average weekly wage for the four months prior to taking leave, and the second calculation extends this period to 12 months.
The Audit Office has also criticised the board for, firstly, calculating an entitlement before it is due and before the board has received an employer's return; and,
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