On 1 January 2014, new rules to an Employer’s proposed change of regular rosters or ordinary hours of work of employees and applies to any employees covered under a Modern Award, as well as any employees covered by an Enterprise Agreement that is approved by the Commission on or after 1 January 2014.

Where an Employer proposes to introduce a change to the regular roster or ordinary hours of work of employees, the Employer must first consult with such affected employees, and a summary of an Employer’s obligations in this regard is listed below.

Where an Employer proposes to introduce such a change, the Employer must first notify the relevant employees of the proposed change.

As soon as practicable after proposing to introduce the change, the Employer must:

(a) discuss with the relevant employees the introduction of the change; and

(b)  for the purposes of the discussion, provide to the relevant employees:

• all relevant information about the change, including the nature of the change; and
• information about what the Employer reasonably believes will be the effects of the change on the employees; and
• information about any other matters that the Employer reasonably believes are likely to affect the employees; and

(c)  invite the relevant employees to give their views about the impact of the change (including any impact in relation to their family or caring responsibilities).

The Employer is not, however, required to disclose confidential or commercially sensitive information to the relevant employees.

In deciding what changes to implement, the Employer must give prompt and genuine consideration to matters raised about the change by the relevant employees.

In relation to the consultation process, the relevant employees may appoint a representative to be involved in this process on their behalf, and if the employees appoint a representative for the purposes of consultation, and the employees advise the Employer of the identity of the representative, the Employer must recognise the representative as part of the consultation process.

(Source: Fairwork Central)