On 16 December 2021, the Industrial Relations Legislation Amendment Bill 2021 was passed by State Parliament.

The new state employment laws introduced by the Industrial Relations Legislation Amendment Act 2021 (IRLA Act) will commence in early 2022. The commencement date for the new laws has not yet been set. 

The IRLA Act amends the Industrial Relations Act 1979, the Long Service Leave Act 1958, the Minimum Conditions of Employment Act 1993, and the Public and Bank Holidays Act 1972.

Key reforms include:

• Easter Sunday to be a public holiday in WA from 2022;
• domestic workers, including aged and disability care support workers, employed directly by household employers will have new employment entitlements;
• new employment protections for state system employees, including an entitlement to five days unpaid family and domestic violence leave and enhanced personal leave;
• new stop bullying and sexual harassment provisions which allow individual public and private sector workers who reasonably believe they have been bullied or sexually harassed at work (or both) to make an application to the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission for a stop bullying or sexual harassment order;
• new obligations for state system employers on employment record keeping and pay slips; and
• strengthening enforcement mechanisms and increasing penalties for breaches of state employment laws.

Visit www.dmirs.wa.gov.au/new-employment-laws for more information on the upcoming changes.