By Charles Power

Do you know whether or not you are a national system employer?

You need to know if you are a national system employer to know under which legislation and industrial instruments you and your employees operate.

All States and Territories (except Western Australia) have passed laws to refer legislative power regarding workplace relations to the Commonwealth. All employers in jurisdictions that have referred their power to the Commonwealth to make laws about workplace relations are national system employers.

This means that all Australian private sector employers outside Western Australia are required to observe the NES and national minimum wage orders.

For employers in State public or local government sectors, the situation is different. All States have retained their powers to make laws regulating employment in these areas. This means that if you are any of the following types of employers, you need to check whether there is a State law or instrument regulating your employment:

• State MP;
• Judge or member of an administrative tribunal;
• State parliament;
• Government House;
• State public sector;
• State agency;
• police and emergency services; or
• local government sector (local government employees in Tasmania and Victoria are within the national system).

In Western Australia, an employer will only be a national system employer if they are:

• a constitutional corporation;
• the Commonwealth;
• a Commonwealth authority;
• a person who employs a flight crew officer, maritime employee or waterside worker in connection with trade or commerce between:
  • Australia and elsewhere;
  • among the States;
  • between a State and a Territory
  • between Territories; or
  • within a Territory; or
• an employer of an individual in connection with an activity that the person carries out in the ACT, NT or any other Australian Territory.