LAWS3360 Employment Law

The availability of units in Semester 1, 2, etc. was correct at the time of going to press but may be subject to change.

Credit: 6 points Availability: Summer teaching period Old unit code: 200.360

Outcomes: Students have a sound understanding of, and a capacity to appropriately apply, the major legal rules and principles (under the common law and relevant state and federal statutes) which govern (1) the categorisation/classification of different forms of work relationships; (2) the legal rights and responsibilities of employers and employees; (3) the lawful termination (at common law) of the contract of employment; (4) the principal remedies available to employees who have been wrongfully dismissed (at common law); (5) the statutory actions and forms of relief available to employees whose employment has been terminated unfairly or unjustly; (6) the statutory actions and forms of relief available to employees whose employment has been terminated unlawfully; (7) the enforceability of post-employment restraints and their relationship to the law concerning restraint of trade; and (8) the actions and forms of relief available to employees who have suffered unlawful discrimination in or in connection with their employment.

Content: This unit involves an examination of the individual employment relationship between employer and employee. Among the topics given special attention are the contract of employment and its importance at common law and under statute; rights and duties of the respective parties; remedies for breach; unfair and unlawful termination of employment at common law and under state and federal statutes; selected aspects of the systems of industrial dispute resolution and regulation under Commonwealth and state legislation including, in particular, awards, collective agreements and individual agreements.

Assessment: This comprises an essay and a final examination.

Supplementary assessment is not available in this unit except in the case of a bachelor's pass degree student who has obtained a mark of 45 to 49 and is currently enrolled in this unit, and it is the only remaining unit that the student must pass in order to complete their course.

Unit Co-ordinator(s): Professor William Ford and Dr Antonio Buti

Location: UWA (Crawley)

Mode: on-campus

Unit Rules:

Prerequisites: LAWS1102 Contract II

Incompatibility: LAWS3309 Workplace Law

Contact hours—lectures: 2–3 hrs per week

Unit Web Page: http://www.uwa.edu.au/page/98378

Note: Some unit web pages are still under construction and will be available in 2009.

Recommended Reading

Creighton, W. B. and Stewart, A. Labour Law: an Introduction, 4th ed.: Federation Press 2004

Macken, J. J. et al. The Law of Employment, 5th ed.: Lawbook Co. 2002

Assistance with study skills, including English language skills, is available free of charge from Student Services for all enrolled students (see http://www.studysmarter.uwa.edu.au/). Student Services location: Second Floor, South Wing, Guild Village; telephone: 6488 2423.

Books and other material wherever listed may be subject to change. Book lists relating to 'Preliminary Reading', 'Recommended Reading' and 'Textbooks' are, in most cases, available at the University Co-operative Bookshop (from early January) and appropriate administrative offices for students to consult. For first-year units the Bookshop will endeavour to make available photocopies of book lists for individual units. Books marked with an asterisk (*) are available in paperback.

Unit Resources

Unit Coordinators

Professor William Ford
Office: Law Link Room G.38
Tel: 6488 2948 / 2949
Email: william.ford@uwa.edu.au

Dr Antonio Buti
Office: Law Buildig Room 1.10
Tel: 6488 2957
Email: antonio.buti@uwa.edu.au