Page 1071 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 29 May 2007
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cleaning industries to access long service leave where, because of the fluid nature of their work, they may not have otherwise been able to do so.
Under each scheme workers are entitled to take long service leave after they accrue sufficient credits from across the sector. Payments for the leave are financed by contributions made by employers on behalf of each of their employees and by some contractors who make contributions for themselves. The amendments contained in this bill will simplify and streamline administrative arrangements for both schemes and make them more equitable for employers and employees in the cleaning and construction industries.
Each scheme has an independent governing board made up of employee and employer representatives from the relevant industry. The amendments for each scheme have been approved by the governing board of that scheme. Many of the changes in this bill are aimed at improving the administrative efficiency of both schemes. These efficiencies will predominantly be sought by more closely aligning the cleaning and building acts to increase the already established practice of sharing administrative resources across the management of the two schemes. This will reduce the cost of running the schemes, costs which are ultimately paid by employers.
These amendments will also change the reporting and levy periods in the Building Act from bi-monthly reports to quarterly reports in order to align with the operation of the cleaning act. They will also extend the time for available for employers to lodge reports and pay the levy. The amendments will streamline the information that employers are required to provide, and that the building and cleaning authorities are required to report on, under each scheme. These changes will reduce the administrative burden associated with the reporting requirements of employers and the building authority.
The cleaning act has also been amended to allow for reciprocal arrangements with portable long service leave schemes in the cleaning industry. When the cleaning long service leave scheme was established in 1999, it was the first of its kind in Australia but recently the Queensland government has also introduced a portable long service leave scheme for the contract cleaning industry. The amendments to the cleaning act will allow mutual recognition of service between the territory and Queensland schemes, as well as any other schemes which may be established in the future.
The cleaning act will also be amended to allow contractors in the cleaning industry to opt in to the cleaning scheme by making contributions on their own behalf, and this will be of particular assistance to cleaners who change from being employed by a cleaning company to being self-employed. With the amendments, these people will be able to continue to participate in the scheme until they accrue sufficient credits to be eligible to take leave. These rights and opportunities already exist for contractors in the building industry.
The bill also makes specific changes to both the cleaning and building acts to make them more equitable. The changes include the introduction of a new formula to calculate payments for employees in the building industry who have had their earnings reduced because they have been absent on workers compensation. Changes
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