LAW 3517 - Law of Work | Course Outlines

LAW 3517 - Law of Work

North Terrace Campus - Semester 2 - 2024

This course examines the law governing work as it is evolving in the global era. It explores a range of regulatory mechanisms deployed in this area, focusing on Australian law but also including international norms. Topics covered include: the Australian regulatory system; the subject of the law of work, including the distinction between employees and independent contractors, and non-standard forms of work; the contract of employment, and common law rights and responsibilities at work; legislated safety net conditions and awards; security at work, including dismissal law; freedom of association; enterprise bargaining, and resolving conflicts at work under the law.

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Course Details

Course Code	LAW 3517
Course	Law of Work
Coordinating Unit	Adelaide Law School
Term	Semester 2
Level	Undergraduate Law (LLB)
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	3
Contact	Up to 3 hours per week
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	Y
Prerequisites	LAW 1501 and (LAW 1510 or LAW 1503)
Incompatible	LAW 3044
Restrictions	Available to LLB and B.Criminology with B.Laws and BArts Advanced with B.Laws students only
Assessment	Typically to include a letter of advice and a research essay.

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Professor Andrew Stewart

Course co-ordinator: Professor Andrew Stewart
Adelaide Law School
Room 2.24, Ligertwood Building
Phone: 8313 4445
Email:andrew.stewart@adelaide.edu.au

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

Course Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

1. Identify, critically analyse and apply the historical context in which the legal regulation of work in Australian was established and operates.
2. Identify the fundamental principles which underpin the modern law of work.
3. Analyse case law in relation to work issues.
4. Interpret complex and large statutory regulatory regimes in the Australian federal context, as exemplified through their application to work relations.
5. Apply legal principles in hypothetical problems regarding work.
6. Prepare and present convincing argument, both orally and in writing, in relation to the law of work.

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

University Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Attribute 1: Deep discipline knowledge and intellectual breadth Graduates have comprehensive knowledge and understanding of their subject area, the ability to engage with different traditions of thought, and the ability to apply their knowledge in practice including in multi-disciplinary or multi-professional contexts.	1-6
Attribute 2: Creative and critical thinking, and problem solving Graduates are effective problems-solvers, able to apply critical, creative and evidence-based thinking to conceive innovative responses to future challenges.	1-6
Attribute 3: Teamwork and communication skills Graduates convey ideas and information effectively to a range of audiences for a variety of purposes and contribute in a positive and collaborative manner to achieving common goals.	5,6
Attribute 4: Professionalism and leadership readiness Graduates engage in professional behaviour and have the potential to be entrepreneurial and take leadership roles in their chosen occupations or careers and communities.	5,6
Attribute 5: Intercultural and ethical competency Graduates are responsible and effective global citizens whose personal values and practices are consistent with their roles as responsible members of society.	5,6
Attribute 8: Self-awareness and emotional intelligence Graduates are self-aware and reflective; they are flexible and resilient and have the capacity to accept and give constructive feedback; they act with integrity and take responsibility for their actions.	1-6

Learning Resources

Required Resources

tPRESCRIBED TEXT BOOK
Andrew Stewart, Anthony Forsyth, Mark Irving, Richard Johnstone and Shae McCrystal, Creighton and Stewart's Labour Law (7th ed, Federation Press, 2024)

Recommended Resources

Other useful books of a general nature include:
Andrew Stewart, Stewart's Guide to Employment Law, 7th ed, Federation Press, 2021
Joellen Riley Munton, Labour law: An Introduction to the Law of Work, OUP, 2021
Carolyn Sappideen, Paul O’Grady and Joellen Riley, Macken’s Law of Employment, 9th ed, Lawbook Co, 2022
Mark Irving, The Contract of Employment, 2nd ed, Lexis Nexis, 2019
Anthony Forsysth and Andrew Stewart (eds), Fair Work: The New Workplace Laws and the Work Choices Legacy, Federation Press, 2009
John Howe,, Anna Chapman and Ingrid Landau (eds), The Evolving Project of Labour Law, Federation Press, 2017

Specialist journals and publications:
The Australian Journal of Labour Law is the leading Australian journal dealing with the law that is examined in this course. It is an excellent reference resource for students. While not specialist law journals, the Journal of Industrial Relations, the Economic and Labour Relations Review and Labour and Industry have many interesting articles about work-related issues in Australia.

Internet resources:
There are many websites carrying information about the law of work. The following are some of the more important and useful for students:

Fair Work Commission: www.fwc.gov.au
Fair Work Ombudsman: www.fairwork.gov.au
Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (Commonwealth): www.dewr.gov.au
Australian Human Rights Commission: www.humanrights.gov.au
Workplace Gender Equality Agency: www.wgea.gov.au
Safe Work Australia: www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au
Productivity Commission: www.pc.gov.au
South Australian Employment Tribunal: www.saet.sa.gov.au
Equal Opportunity Commission (SA): www.eoc.sa.gov.au
SafeWorkSA: www.safework.sa.gov.au
International Labour Organization: www.ilo.org
Australian Council of Trade Unions: www.actu.asn.au
Australian Industry Group: www.aigroup.asn.au
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry: www.acci.asn.au
Business Council of Australia: www.bca.com.au

Online Learning

Besides this course outline and the study guides, students can use the course website on MyUni to access copies of the PowerPoints used in lectures, recordings of the lectures, any materials that students are specifically required to read for the seminars, and assessment tasks. There is also a Discussion Board for the course.

Learning & Teaching Modes

There will be a two-hour lecture and a one-hour seminar each week.

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

The course requires a combined weekly commitment of 3 hours attending classes or a total of 36 hours of formal class time across the semester. To actively and productively participate in classes, students will have to do reading and preparation. Students should expect to devote an average of 12 hours per week to their studies in the course.

Learning Activities Summary

Week	Topic
1	Australian Regulatory Framework
2	Who is an Employee?
3	Non-Standard Work
4	The Statutory and Award Safety Net
5	Enterprise Bargaining
6	Employment Contract: Rights & Responsibilities Pt 1
7	Employment Contract: Rights & Responsibilities Pt 2
8	General Protections & Unfair Employment Practices
Mid semester break
9	Termination of Employment
10	Unfair Dismissal
11	Dispute Resolution & Enforcement
12	Industrial Action

Specific Course Requirements

None

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

Assessment Task	Task Type (Group or Individual)	Due	Weighting	Length	Redeemable	Course Learning Outcome
Quiz 1	Individual	Friday, Week 2	5%		No	1-4
Letter of advice	Individual	Monday, Week 6	20%	1000 words	Yes	3-6
Quiz 2	Individual	Friday, Week 10	5%		No	1-4
Research essay	Individual	Friday, first week of exam period	70%	3500 words	No	1-4, 6

Assessment Related Requirements

The letter of advice is compulsory, because it covers material that is not assessed in the research essay. Failure to complete this item of assessment will result in course failure.

Assessment Detail

Quiz 1 - 5%
The quiz will have 20 questions, on the material covered in the introductory lectures and Week 1. It will be released and must be completed in Week 2.

Letter of advice - 20% redeemable
Students must prepare a letter of advice to a hypothetical client on a topic or problem relating to material covered in Weeks 1-4. Answers must not exceed 1000 words in length. The assignment will be available on Friday of Week 4 from 2:00pm on the course website. The due date for answers will be Monday of Week 6, 2:00pm.The letter of advice mark is redeemable, for those who get a mark of at least 45%. If a student gets at least that mark for the letter of advice, but does better on the research essay, only their research essay mark will count

towards their overall result. Otherwise, the letter of advice counts for 20% of the overall mark

Quiz 2 - 5%
The quiz will have 20 questions, on the material covered in Weeks 5-9. It will be released and must be completed, in Week 10.

Research Essay – 70% or 90%
Students must present a research essay on one of the topics that will be made available through the course website on the Friday of Week 11. Answers must not exceed 3,500 words in length. Students will be expected to show evidence of an independent capacity to research a legal issue, by reference to materials that go beyond those discussed in class or provided in course materials. The due date for answers will be 2:00pm on the Friday in the first week of the exam period.

Submission

All assignments and essays in this course are to be submitted electronically. Students must retain a copy of their answers.

All written work in the Law School is required to comply with the Australian Guide to Legal Citation.

Any requests for extensions must be made electronically according to Law School policy. Extensions will be granted only for unexpected illness, hardship or on compassionate grounds in accordance with University policy. Work commitments, travel, holidays or sporting engagements are not unexpected circumstances.

Penalties:
Late Submission: Submission penalties of 5% of the total mark for each day (or part thereof) will be deducted for late submission (including weekends and public holidays). So an answer graded 63% will have 5% deducted if it is up to one day late, for a final mark of 58%, 10% if it is two days late, etc.

Word Length: Answers which exceed the allocated word length will be subject to a penalty of 5% of total marks available per 100 words or part thereof. So with a word limit of 3,500, an essay graded 72% will have 5% deducted if it is 3,501 words long, for a final grade of 67%, 10% if it is 3,601 words long, etc. The word count for this purpose includes headings, quotations and all substantive text, including in footnotes, but not citations, bibliographical references or cover page information.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

Finality of Assessment Grades

Students are advised that Course Coordinators will not enter into negotiations of any kind with any student regarding changes to their grades. It is irrelevant, in any given circumstance, that only a minimal number of additional marks are required to inflate a student’s grade for any individual assessment item or course as a whole. Pursuant to the University’s Assessment for Coursework Programs Policyand the Adelaide Law School Assessment Policies and Procedures, grades may only be varied through the appropriate channels for academic review (such as an official re-mark).

Moderation

In accordance with the University’s Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy, course coordinators ‘ensure that appropriate marking guidelines and cross-marking moderation processes across markers are in place’ in each course. Procedures adopted by Adelaide Law School to ensure consistency of marking in courses with multiple markers include:

assurance of the qualifications of markers, and their knowledge of the content covered in each course;
detailed marking guidelines and assessment rubrics to assist in the marking of items of assessment;
sharing of example marked assessments at various grade bands across markers;
reviewing of selected marked assessments from each marker by the course coordinator;
comparison of the marks and their distribution across markers;
automatic double-marking of all interim assessment receiving a fail grade, and of final assessments where a student’s overall result is a fail grade;
the availability of re-marking of assessments in accordance with Adelaide Law School’s Assessment Policies and Procedures.

Approval of Results by Board of Examiners

Students are reminded that all assessment results are subject to approval (and possible moderation/change) by the Law School’s Board of Examiners. Assessment results at the University are not scaled. Under the Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy, students are assessed ‘by reference to their performance against pre-determined criteria and standards … and not by ranking against the performance of the student cohort in the course’. However, under that same policy, the Board of Examiners (as the relevant Assessment Review Committee for courses at Adelaide Law School) is required to ‘ensure comparability of standards and consistency’ in assessment. On occasions, the Board of Examiners will form the view that some moderation is required to ensure the comparability of standards and consistency across courses and years, and accordingly provide fairness to all law students. All assessment results are therefore subject to approval (and possible change) until confirmed by the Board of Examiners and posted on Access Adelaide at the end of each semester.

Student Feedback

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available. Student feedback The course is constantly being updated and revised to reflect the evolution of the law, to respond to student feedback, and to engage with the latest teaching practices. Student feedback is collected each time the course is run, including through SELT reports. Previous SELT reports, and staff feedback on them, are posted on the course MyUni site for students to view and consider. Student feedback The course is constantly being updated and revised to reflect the evolution of the law, to respond to student feedback, and to engage with the latest teaching practices. Student feedback is collected each time the course is run, including through SELT reports. Previous SELT reports, and staff feedback on them, are posted on the course MyUni site for students to view and consider.
Student Support
The University Writing Centre provides academic learning and language development services and resources for local, international, undergraduate and postgraduate coursework students enrolled at the University of Adelaide.

The centre offers practical advice and strategies for students to master reading, writing, note-taking, time management, oral presentation skills, referencing techniques and exam preparation for success at university through seminars, workshops and individual consultations.

Lex Salus Program
Lex Salus (law and wellbeing) is an initiative of the Adelaide Law School aimed at destigmatising mental health issues; promoting physical, mental and emotional wellness; building a strong community of staff and students; and celebrating diversity within the school. It also seeks to promote wellness within the legal profession, through the involvement of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia, the Honourable Chris Kourakis, as the official Patron of the program.

Students can participate in the Lex Salus program by attending barbecue lunches, pancake breakfasts, knitting and crochet circles, seminars, guest speakers, conferences and other activities. Our Facebook page, website and regular all-student emails promote upcoming events, and have tips and information on wellness.

Our Lex Salus YouTube channel also includes videos on topics like managing stress, and interviews with LGBTQ lawyers and their supporters which celebrate diversity and individuality. Students who commit to 10 hours of volunteering with Lex Salus in one year can have their service recognised on their academic transcript and through a thank you morning tea with the Chief Justice and law school staff.

Student Life Counselling Support
The University’s Student Life Counselling Support service provides free and confidential service to all enrolled students. We encourage you to contact the Student Life Counselling Support service on 8313 5663 to make an appointment to deal with any issues that may be affecting your study and life.
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
Academic Integrity
All students must be familiar with the University’s Academic Integrity Policy. Academic Misconduct is a serious matter and is treated as such by the Law School and the University. Academic Misconduct (which goes beyond plagiarism) can be a ground for a refusal by the Supreme Court of South Australia to admit a person to practice as a legal practitioner in South Australia. Academic Integrity is an essential aspect of ethical and honest behaviour, which is central to the practice of the law and an understanding of what it is to be a lawyer.
Fraud Awareness

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

The University of Adelaide is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The University of Adelaide therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.

Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator