Fair Work and Employment Standards Act, 1760

Fair Work and Employment Standards Act, 1760

14th Cortes Federales
Long title	An Act to establish standards of fair work and employment across the Federation; to regulate working time and to provide for rest; to protect employees against unfair dismissal and to provide for redundancy; to prohibit discrimination in employment and to require equal treatment; to protect part-time, fixed-term, agency, and other non-standard workers; to provide for collective labor relations and to place sectoral wage boards on a permanent footing; to strengthen the safety of workplaces and to provide for liability where a failure of safety causes death; to provide for the enforcement of employment standards and for the certainty of employers and the support of small undertakings; to amend the Rights and Standards at Work Act, 1706; and for connected purposes.
Bill Number	FA-1760-13
Introduced by	Council of State (Government of the Federal Accord), sponsored by Carlos Dominguez (DSP / Secretary of Labor) and Marcos Ferreira Gonçalves (DSP / Premier)
Extent	Entire Federation of Nouvelle Alexandrie
Dates
Bill Status	Proposed
Date introduced	22.VIII.1760 AN
Last updated	22.VIII.1760 AN
Other legislation
Amendments	None
Related legislation	Rights and Standards at Work Act, 1706 Chambers of Guilds and Corporations Act, 1715 General Appropriations and Taxation Act, 1760 Cost of Living Relief Act, 1760 Clean Government and Elections Act, 1760

The Fair Work and Employment Standards Act, 1760 (Alexandrian: Loi sur le travail équitable et les normes d'emploi, 1760; Martino: Ley de Trabajo Justo y Normas de Empleo, 1760; Wechua: Allin Llamk'aymanta Kamachiy, 1760) is proposed legislation of Nouvelle Alexandrie brought before the 14th Cortes Federales by the Council of State of the Federal Accord. It gathers into one modern code the rights that attach to work in the Federation, and it sets, for the first time in statute, a limit on the working week, a protection against unfair dismissal, a guarantee of equal treatment, and a permanent footing for collective bargaining by sector.

The Act builds on the Rights and Standards at Work Act, 1706, the Federation's founding labor statute, which fixes the minimum wage, paid leave, and the safety of the workplace, but which sets no limit on hours, gives no protection against unfair dismissal, and says nothing of discrimination or of the growth of insecure work. This Act supplies that framework. It regulates working time and rest; it protects an employee against dismissal without a fair reason and a fair procedure; it prohibits discrimination and requires equal pay for equal work; it protects part-time, fixed-term, and agency workers and provides for the conversion of long fixed-term engagements into permanent ones; it places the tripartite sectoral wage boards, piloted under the General Appropriations and Taxation Act, 1760, on a permanent and general footing; it strengthens the safety of workplaces and provides that a failure of safety that causes the death of a worker may be visited on the undertaking and, in a case of gross or willful default, on its officers; and it provides for the enforcement of these standards through the existing offices of the Department of Labor. The Act does not lower a single standard set by the law of 1706 AN; it adds to that floor, and, in the same measure, it gives employers a clearer and more predictable law to work within.

Background

Labor in the Federation has rested since the first Cortes on the Rights and Standards at Work Act, 1706, a statute that guarantees a minimum wage indexed each year to inflation, six weeks of paid annual leave, maternity, paternity, and adoption leave, statutory sick pay, and a body of safety law that a later Act of 1727 AN extended into a full regime of occupational health and safety. That law has served the Federation well as a floor of pay and conditions, but it was written for its time. It fixes no limit on the hours an employer may require, provides no premium for overtime, and offers an employee no protection against dismissal without reason. It is silent on discrimination at work, and it was drawn before the growth of fixed-term, agency, and on-call working that now places many workers outside the security the permanent contract once carried.

The bargaining that might close these gaps by agreement rests on foundations that were never built for it. The Chambers of Guilds and Corporations Act, 1715 established a consultative structure of national, regional, and municipal chambers in which the representatives of commerce and of labor meet, but the chambers are venues for dialogue and the amicable settlement of disputes, not instruments that set the terms of employment. The Federation's labor unions, organized in three great confederations (the Federal Confederation of Trade Unions, the General Confederation of Labor, and the Federation of Teamsters and Dockworkers) and in many trade and sectoral bodies, bargain where they are strong, but union strength is uneven and much of the low-paid economy lies beyond it. The General Appropriations and Taxation Act, 1760 began to answer this with a pilot: it required the Secretary of Labor to convene tripartite wage boards for a small number of low-paid sectors, drawing on the framework of the 1715 AN chambers, and it set that pilot to expire at the close of 1762 AN unless the Cortes continued it, expecting a later Act to carry the work forward. This Act is that later Act.

The Act also answers a shift in the Federation's labor market. The emergency employment authorities of the Economic Emergency and Recovery Act, 1758 reached the end of their statutory life at the close of 1759 AN; the General Appropriations and Taxation Act, 1760 carried the recovery's work-sharing support into the standing budget, but unemployment stood at 8.7 percent and the Federation had no permanent floor of employment rights beneath the wage and safety standards of 1706 AN. Where the recovery measures met a temporary emergency, this Act sets a lasting standard of fair work.

The Federal Accord came to office pledged to the prosperity of ordinary households and to a fair reward for honest work. The Speech from the Throne that opened the session set as its first priority that a family might "afford a home, meet the cost of daily life, and find in honest work a fair reward," and this Act carries the last of those into law beside the housing and cost-of-living measures that carried the first two. The bill is sponsored by the Secretary of Labor, Carlos Dominguez, and by the Premier, Marcos Ferreira Gonçalves, a former dockworker and organizer at the Port of Jirishanca before he entered public life, and it is framed as much for the employer as for the worker: it consolidates a scattered law into one code, it makes the conduct of a dismissal predictable, and it offers small undertakings time and help to meet its standards rather than a penalty for falling short of them.

Key provisions

The Act is arranged in nine Parts. Part I sets out the citation, the defined terms, the purpose, and the application of the Act. It provides that the Act supplements the Rights and Standards at Work Act, 1706 and does not reduce a standard that Act sets, and it defines who is protected: an employee under a contract of employment, and, more broadly, a worker who undertakes to perform work personally and is not genuinely in business on the person's own account. Where the substance of a relationship is one of employment, its label does not put it outside the Act, and the burden of showing that a person who works is not a worker lies on the undertaking for which the work is done.

Part II regulates working time. It fixes a standard working week of forty hours, provides that hours worked beyond it are overtime paid at not less than one and one-half times the normal rate, and sets an absolute limit of fifty-two hours in any week that no agreement may exceed. It provides for daily and weekly rest and for breaks, and it restricts night work. To meet the needs of seasonal and variable work without breaching the limit, it allows the standard week to be averaged over a reference period, but only under a collective agreement or a determination of a wage board, and the fifty-two-hour weekly ceiling holds in every case.

Part III protects the security of employment. An employer must give a worker a written statement of the terms of the engagement. An employee may not be dismissed except for a fair reason relating to the employee's conduct, capability, or the genuine needs of the undertaking, and except by a fair procedure; and an employer who follows the procedure the Act prescribes is taken to have met the procedural requirement, which gives both the employee a guarantee of due process and the employer a settled standard to follow. An employee dismissed unfairly may seek reinstatement or compensation before a court, and an employee dismissed for redundancy is entitled to consultation and to redundancy pay calculated by length of service.

Part IV requires equal treatment. It prohibits discrimination in employment on a range of protected grounds, requires equal pay for equal work, prohibits harassment, and requires an employer to make reasonable accommodation for a worker's disability. These duties are administered through the Equal Employment Opportunities Office of the Department of Labor, which the Act does not replace.

Part V protects non-standard work. A part-time or agency worker must be treated no less favorably than a comparable permanent employee, in proportion to the hours worked; a fixed-term engagement that is renewed beyond two years is converted by operation of the Act into a permanent one; and a worker engaged on an on-call or zero-hours basis is given a floor of protection, including a right to compensation for canceled work and, after a period of regular hours, a right to a contract that reflects them.

Part VI provides for collective labor relations. It affirms the right of workers to organize and to bargain collectively and protects a worker against detriment for doing so. It places the sectoral wage boards on a permanent and general footing: the Secretary of Labor may convene a tripartite wage board of workers, employers, and the Government for any sector, drawing on the framework of the Chambers of Guilds and Corporations Act, 1715, and a determination of a wage board has effect as a floor above the statutory minimum and binds every undertaking in the sector, so that a good employer is not undercut by one that pays less. This Part carries forward and makes permanent the pilot begun under Article 23 of the General Appropriations and Taxation Act, 1760.

Part VII strengthens the safety of workplaces. It continues the occupational health and safety regime established by the Act of 1727 and adds to it a general duty on every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the safety of the workers it employs. Where a failure of that duty causes the death of a worker, the undertaking commits an offense; and where the failure was gross or willful, an officer of the undertaking who consented to or connived in it, or to whose neglect it was attributable, is personally liable. For a minor or first contravention the Act provides for an improvement notice and a period to comply before a penalty, so that enforcement falls hardest on the willful and the repeated.

Part VIII provides for enforcement and the protection of wages. It confers on the Labor Inspection Office of the Department the power to inspect, to require information, and to issue notices; it provides for the early conciliation of disputes through the dispute-resolution machinery of the chambers before a claim reaches a court; it allows a genuine and promptly corrected technical contravention to be cured without penalty; it protects the payment of wages and protects a worker who reports a contravention against retaliation; and it provides for penalties and for the support of employers, including apprenticeship and a voluntary certification of undertakings that meet the standards of the Act.

Part IX contains the final provisions. It makes the amendments to the Rights and Standards at Work Act, 1706 that the Act requires, provides for a phased commencement with additional time and support for small undertakings, states the constitutional basis of the Act, confers a regulation-making power that cannot cut down the Act's own duties, requires a review of the Act's operation against its results, and provides for commencement and severability.

Provisions in outline

Structure of the Act

Part	Articles	Subject
I	1–5	General provisions: citation, definitions, purpose, application, and worker status
II	6–10	Working time and rest: the standard week, overtime and the ceiling, rest, night work, and averaging
III	11–15	Security of employment: written terms, unfair dismissal, fair procedure, remedies, and redundancy
IV	16–19	Equal treatment: non-discrimination, equal pay, harassment, and reasonable accommodation
V	20–22	Non-standard work: part-time and agency workers, fixed-term work and conversion, and on-call work
VI	23–26	Collective labor relations: organization and bargaining, sectoral wage boards, their effect, and protection from detriment
VII	27–31	Workplace safety: continuation of the 1727 AN regime, the general duty, liability for a fatal failure, officer liability, and improvement notices
VIII	32–37	Enforcement and wage protection: inspection, conciliation and remedies, cure, wage protection, penalties, and employer support
IX	38–43	Final provisions: amendment of the 1706 AN Act, phased commencement, constitutional basis, regulations, review, and commencement

Legislative progress

Legislative progress

Stage	Date	Chamber	Action	Votes (Y-N-A)	Details
1	22.VIII.1760 AN	Federal Assembly	Introduction	-	Introduced for the Council of State by Carlos Dominguez (DSP, Secretary of Labor) and Marcos Ferreira Gonçalves (DSP, Premier)
2	pending	Federal Assembly	Committee report	-
3	pending	Federal Assembly	Final division	-
4	pending	Chamber of Peers	Concurrence	-
5	pending	-	Royal Assent	-	Sinchi Roca II

Bill as submitted to the Hopper of the Federal Assembly, 1760 AN

Fair Work and Employment Standards Act, 1760

THE READING OF
A
BILL
TO
establish standards of fair work and employment across the Federation; to regulate working time and to provide for rest; to protect employees against unfair dismissal and to provide for redundancy; to prohibit discrimination in employment and to require equal treatment; to protect part-time, fixed-term, agency, and other non-standard workers; to provide for collective labor relations and to place sectoral wage boards on a permanent footing; to strengthen the safety of workplaces and to provide for liability where a failure of safety causes death; to provide for the enforcement of employment standards and for the certainty of employers and the support of small undertakings; to amend the Rights and Standards at Work Act, 1706; and for connected purposes.

Fair Work and Employment Standards Act, 1760

Presented for the Council of State by Carlos Dominguez (DSP), Secretary of Labor, and Marcos Ferreira Gonçalves (DSP), Premier
Ordered, by the Cortes Federales of Nouvelle Alexandrie,
to be Printed, 1760 AN.

BE IT ENACTED by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Cortes Federales, in this present session assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-

PART I
GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1: Citation.

1. This Act may be cited as the "Fair Work and Employment Standards Act, 1760".

Article 2: Definitions.

1. In this Act:
   1. "the 1706 Act" means the Rights and Standards at Work Act, 1706;
   2. "the Assembly" means the Federal Assembly;
   3. "a collective agreement" means an agreement, on terms or conditions of employment, between an employer or an association of employers and a union;
   4. "the Department" means the Department of Labor;
   5. "an employee" means a worker who works under a contract of employment;
   6. "an employer" means a person who employs a worker, and includes a person for whom a worker personally performs work;
   7. "the Gazette" means the Federal Gazette;
   8. "an inspector" means an officer of the Labor Inspection Office of the Department;
   9. "normal rate" means a worker's normal rate of pay for the work done;
   10. "overtime" means working time in a week that exceeds the standard working week;
   11. "a public body" means a department, agency, court, or other body of the Federation, and includes a Region and its public bodies;
   12. "a Region" means a region of the Federation, and includes its government and public bodies;
   13. "the Secretary" means the Secretary of Labor;
   14. "the standard working week" means the period fixed by Article 6;
   15. "an undertaking" means a business, trade, profession, or activity carried on by an employer, whether or not for profit;
   16. "a union" means a labor union, and includes a confederation of labor unions;
   17. "a wage board" means a board convened under Article 24;
   18. "a worker" has the meaning given by Article 5;
   19. "working time" means a period during which a worker is working, is at the employer's disposal, and is carrying out the worker's activity or duty, together with a period treated as working time by this Act or by a collective agreement.

Article 3: Purpose.

1. The purposes of this Act are—
   1. to establish, across the Federation, standards of fair work and employment;
   2. to secure to every worker a limit on working time, protection against unfair dismissal, equal treatment, and the protection of the law against insecure work;
   3. to place the collective bargaining of terms by sector on a permanent footing; and
   4. to secure the safety of workplaces and the enforcement of these standards, with certainty for the employer who observes them.

Article 4: Application and relationship to the 1706 Act.

1. This Act binds every employer and undertaking in the Federation, and applies to work done in the Federation.
2. This Act supplements the 1706 Act and is read together with it; where a provision of this Act and a provision of the 1706 Act both apply, the provision more favorable to the worker prevails.
3. Nothing in this Act reduces a right, a standard, or a protection conferred on a worker by the 1706 Act, by a collective agreement, or by a contract.
4. The duties imposed and the protections created by this Act have effect despite any agreement to the contrary, and a term of a contract is void so far as it purports to exclude or limit them.

Article 5: Worker status and disguised employment.

1. In this Act, "a worker" means an individual who—
   1. works under a contract of employment; or
   2. undertakes to perform work or a service personally for another party, and is not, in respect of that work, genuinely carrying on a business of the individual's own of which the other party is a client or customer.
2. The question whether an individual is a worker is decided on the substance of the relationship, and not on the label the parties give it or on the form of the contract alone.
3. Where an individual personally performs work for an undertaking and the undertaking asserts that the individual is not a worker, the burden of proving that assertion lies on the undertaking.
4. The Secretary may make regulations providing that a class of individuals is, or is not, to be treated as workers for the purposes of this Act, but a regulation must not exclude from protection an individual who falls within paragraph 1.

PART II
WORKING TIME AND REST

Article 6: Standard working week.

1. The standard working week is forty hours.
2. An employer must not require or permit a worker to work beyond the standard working week except as overtime under Article 7.

Article 7: Overtime and the maximum working week.

1. Overtime must be paid at not less than one and one-half times the worker's normal rate.
2. A worker's working time must not exceed fifty-two hours in any week, and neither an agreement nor a determination of a wage board may permit a longer week.
3. An employer must not require a worker to work overtime that would cause the worker's working time to exceed the limit in paragraph 2, and must not subject a worker to detriment for declining overtime that would do so.
4. This Article does not apply to a worker to the extent that the worker's working time is not measured or predetermined by reason of the worker's own control over it, as may be prescribed; but paragraph 2 applies in every case.

Article 8: Rest and breaks.

1. A worker is entitled to a rest of not less than eleven consecutive hours in each period of twenty-four hours.
2. A worker is entitled to an uninterrupted rest of not less than twenty-four hours in each period of seven days, in addition to the daily rest.
3. A worker whose daily working time exceeds six hours is entitled to a rest break during that time.
4. This Article is without prejudice to the public holidays and paid leave conferred by the 1706 Act.

Article 9: Night work.

1. The normal working time of a night worker must not exceed eight hours in a period of twenty-four hours, averaged over a reference period fixed by regulation.
2. A night worker is entitled to a health assessment before assignment to night work and at regular intervals afterward, provided without charge to the worker.
3. Where a health assessment shows that night work is harming a night worker's health, the employer must, so far as is practicable, transfer the worker to suitable day work.

Article 10: Averaging by agreement.

1. A collective agreement, or a determination of a wage board, may provide that the standard working week is averaged over a reference period not exceeding the period prescribed, so that hours above the standard week in one week are balanced by hours below it in another.
2. Where working time is averaged under this Article, overtime under Article 7 is calculated on the average over the reference period.
3. Averaging under this Article does not displace the limit in Article 7(2), which applies to each week.
4. This Article does not authorize the averaging of a worker's working time except under a collective agreement or a determination of a wage board.

PART III
SECURITY OF EMPLOYMENT

Article 11: Written statement of terms.

1. An employer must give a worker a written statement of the terms of the engagement not later than the day on which the work begins.
2. The statement must set out the parties, the date on which the engagement begins, the place of work, the rate and intervals of pay, the working time, the leave to which the worker is entitled, the notice required to end the engagement, and whether the engagement is permanent or for a fixed term.
3. A failure to give a statement under this Article does not affect the existence or the terms of the engagement, and, where a term is not stated or is in dispute, a court may determine it.

Article 12: Protection against unfair dismissal.

1. An employee has the right not to be unfairly dismissed.
2. A dismissal is fair only where the employer shows—
   1. that the reason for it was a reason relating to the employee's conduct or capability, the redundancy of the employee, or another substantial reason of a kind that justifies the dismissal; and
   2. that the employer acted reasonably in treating that reason as sufficient, and followed a fair procedure under Article 13.
3. A dismissal is unfair, whatever the reason, where the reason for it is the worker's membership of a union or activity in one, the worker's exercise of a right under this Act or the 1706 Act, a protected ground under Article 16, or the worker's having made a disclosure protected under Article 35.
4. This Article applies to an employee who has been continuously employed for the qualifying period prescribed by regulation, except that no qualifying period applies to a dismissal that is unfair under paragraph 3.

Article 13: Fair procedure.

1. Before dismissing an employee, an employer must—
   1. inform the employee, in writing, of the reason on which the employer relies;
   2. give the employee an opportunity to respond, and to be accompanied by a colleague or a union representative;
   3. consider the response and reach a decision; and
   4. inform the employee of the decision and of the right to appeal it.
2. An employer who follows the procedure in paragraph 1 is taken to have met the procedural requirement of Article 12(2)(b).
3. A failure to observe a step of the procedure does not make a dismissal unfair where a court is satisfied that the failure did not deny the employee a fair hearing.
4. The Secretary may issue, and revise, a code of practice on the procedure for dismissal, to which a court must have regard.

Article 14: Notice and remedies.

1. An employer must give an employee notice to end the employment of not less than the period prescribed by length of service, or pay in lieu of it, except in a case of dismissal for gross misconduct.
2. Where a court finds that an employee was unfairly dismissed, it may—
   1. order the employee's reinstatement or re-engagement; or
   2. order the employer to pay compensation, assessed by reference to the employee's loss and to the circumstances of the dismissal, up to the limit prescribed.
3. Where an order for reinstatement or re-engagement is not complied with, the court must order compensation, and may increase it.

Article 15: Redundancy.

1. An employee is dismissed for redundancy where the dismissal is attributable to the ending or diminution of the work of a kind the employee was engaged to do.
2. An employer proposing to dismiss an employee for redundancy must consult the employee, and, where a union is recognized, that union, on the reason for the redundancy, the selection for it, and the means of avoiding or reducing it.
3. An employee dismissed for redundancy who has been continuously employed for the qualifying period is entitled to redundancy pay of two weeks' pay for each complete year of continuous service, up to the maximum number of years prescribed.
4. Selection for redundancy must be made by fair and objective criteria, and a selection made on a protected ground under Article 16, or for a reason within Article 12(3), is unfair.

PART IV
EQUAL TREATMENT

Article 16: Prohibition of discrimination.

1. An employer must not discriminate against a worker, or a person seeking work, in recruitment, terms, promotion, training, dismissal, or any other matter connected with employment, on a protected ground.
2. The protected grounds are sex, gender, sexual orientation, marital or family status, pregnancy, disability, age, religion or belief, political opinion, national or regional origin, language, and membership or non-membership of a union.
3. Discrimination includes treating a worker less favorably on a protected ground, and applying a provision, criterion, or practice that puts workers sharing a protected ground at a particular disadvantage and that the employer cannot show to be a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.
4. It is not discrimination to apply a requirement that is a genuine and determining occupational requirement, or to take a proportionate measure to advance the participation in work of a group that is under-represented or disadvantaged.

Article 17: Equal pay for equal work.

1. A worker is entitled to equal pay for equal work, that is, for work that is the same, or of equal value, as the work of a comparable worker, without regard to a protected ground.
2. A term of a worker's engagement that provides for pay less favorable than that of a comparable worker doing equal work is modified to be no less favorable, unless the employer shows that the difference is due to a material factor that is not a protected ground.
3. An employer must not prevent or penalize the disclosure by workers of information about their pay for the purpose of establishing whether there is a difference connected with a protected ground.

Article 18: Harassment.

1. An employer must not subject a worker to harassment, and must take reasonable steps to protect a worker from harassment in the course of employment.
2. Harassment is unwanted conduct related to a protected ground, or of a sexual nature, that has the purpose or effect of violating a worker's dignity or of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, or offensive environment for the worker.

Article 19: Reasonable accommodation.

1. An employer must make a reasonable accommodation for a worker's disability, that is, a reasonable adjustment to the workplace, the working arrangements, or the requirements of the work, so that the worker is not placed at a substantial disadvantage.
2. An employer is not required to make an accommodation that would impose a disproportionate burden, account being taken of its cost, the resources of the undertaking, and the availability of assistance.
3. The duties under this Part are administered through the Equal Employment Opportunities Office of the Department, and a complaint of a contravention of this Part may be made under Article 33.

PART V
NON-STANDARD WORK

Article 20: Part-time and agency workers.

1. A part-time worker must not be treated less favorably than a comparable full-time worker in the terms of the engagement, and a benefit is applied to a part-time worker in proportion to the hours the worker works, unless the difference is justified on objective grounds.
2. An agency worker who is supplied by one undertaking to work for another must not be treated less favorably, as to pay and basic working conditions, than a worker engaged directly by the undertaking for which the work is done to do the same work.
3. An employer must inform a part-time or agency worker of vacancies for permanent or full-time work in the undertaking.

Article 21: Fixed-term work and conversion.

1. A fixed-term worker must not be treated less favorably than a comparable permanent worker, unless the difference is justified on objective grounds.
2. Where a worker has been continuously employed under one or more fixed-term engagements for more than two years, the engagement has effect, from the day that period is exceeded, as a permanent engagement, and a term providing for its termination on a fixed date ceases to have effect.
3. An employer must not, to avoid paragraph 2, dismiss and re-engage a worker, or substitute another worker, where the work continues; and a succession of engagements arranged to defeat this Article is treated as continuous.
4. An employer must inform a fixed-term worker of vacancies for permanent work in the undertaking.

Article 22: On-call and zero-hours work.

1. An employer must not require a worker to be available for work without an undertaking to provide, or to pay for, work, except on the terms this Article allows.
2. A worker engaged on a basis that does not guarantee hours—
   1. is entitled to reasonable notice of the hours the worker is required to work;
   2. is entitled to compensation, at the prescribed rate, for work that is canceled without reasonable notice; and
   3. must not be prevented from accepting work from another employer.
3. Where a worker engaged on such a basis has worked regular hours over the reference period prescribed, the worker is entitled to a contract that reflects those hours, and the employer must offer one.

PART VI
COLLECTIVE LABOR RELATIONS

Article 23: Organization and collective bargaining.

1. A worker has the right to form and to join a union, to take part in its activities, and to bargain collectively through it.
2. An employer must not subject a worker to detriment, and must not dismiss a worker, for exercising a right under paragraph 1.
3. An employer must, on the request of a union that represents a significant proportion of the workers in an undertaking or a part of it, recognize the union for the purpose of collective bargaining, on the terms and by the procedure prescribed.
4. A collective agreement may be given effect as a term of the engagements it covers, as the agreement provides.

Article 24: Sectoral wage boards.

1. The Secretary may convene a tripartite wage board for a sector of the economy, composed in equal parts of representatives of the workers in the sector, representatives of the employers in the sector, and persons appointed by the Government, drawing on the framework of the Chambers of Guilds and Corporations Act, 1715.
2. A wage board may make a determination setting minimum terms and conditions of employment for the sector, including minimum rates of pay above the statutory minimum, working time within the limits of this Act, and standards of leave, training, and conditions.
3. The Secretary must convene a wage board for a sector where the pay in the sector is low or bargaining at the level of the undertaking is weak, and must keep under review the sectors for which a wage board should be convened.
4. A wage board must consult, and have regard to the effect of a determination on employment, on wages, and on prices, and the Federal Budget and Costing Office must evaluate a determination's effect before it is renewed or extended.
5. This Article continues and makes permanent the pilot of sectoral collective bargaining begun under Article 23 of the General Appropriations and Taxation Act, 1760, which ceases to have a limit of time.

Article 25: Effect of a determination.

1. A determination of a wage board has effect as a floor: it binds every undertaking in the sector, and a term of an engagement in the sector is modified to be no less favorable than the determination.
2. A determination does not prevent an employer, a worker, or a union from agreeing terms more favorable to the worker.
3. A determination has effect above the minimum wage set by the 1706 Act, and does not reduce a right conferred by that Act.
4. By binding every undertaking in a sector alike, a determination secures that an employer that observes it is not undercut in the sector by one that pays less.

Article 26: Protection from detriment.

1. An employer must not subject a worker to detriment for—
   1. being or not being a member of a union;
   2. taking part in the lawful activities of a union, including lawful industrial action; or
   3. bargaining collectively, or seeking the recognition of a union.
2. A provision of a contract is void so far as it purports to exclude a worker from a right under this Part, or to require a worker not to join a union.

PART VII
WORKPLACE SAFETY

Article 27: Continuation of the occupational health and safety regime.

1. The occupational health and safety regime established by the 1706 Act, as extended by the Act of 1727, continues in force, and this Part is read together with it.
2. Nothing in this Part reduces a duty, a protection, or a right conferred by that regime, and, where a provision of this Part and a provision of that regime both apply, the provision more protective of the worker prevails.

Article 28: General duty of safety.

1. An employer must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety at work of the workers it employs and of others affected by the conduct of the undertaking.
2. The duty includes providing and maintaining a safe place and system of work, safe equipment, the information, instruction, training, and supervision needed for safety, and an assessment of the risks of the work.
3. A worker must not be charged for anything done or provided to meet a requirement of this Part.

Article 29: Liability for a fatal failure of safety.

1. An undertaking commits an offense where—
   1. a failure by the undertaking to comply with the duty under Article 28 causes the death of a worker or of another person; and
   2. the failure amounts to a gross breach of that duty, that is, conduct falling far below what could reasonably be expected of the undertaking in the circumstances.
2. In deciding whether an undertaking is guilty of an offense under this Article, regard is had to how the activities of the undertaking were managed or organized by its senior management, and to whether the undertaking failed to observe a safety requirement or guidance.
3. An undertaking guilty of an offense under this Article is liable to a fine, and the court may order it to remedy the failure and to publicize the conviction.

Article 30: Liability of officers.

1. Where an offense under Article 29 is committed by an undertaking and is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of an officer of the undertaking, or to be attributable to the gross or willful neglect of an officer, that officer, as well as the undertaking, commits the offense and is liable to be proceeded against.
2. In this Article, "an officer" means a director, a manager, or another person who purports to act in such a capacity, or a person in accordance with whose directions the undertaking is accustomed to act.
3. This Article does not make an officer liable for a failure that is not gross or willful, and does not displace the ordinary criminal law.

Article 31: Improvement notices and proportionate enforcement.

1. Where an inspector is satisfied that an employer is contravening a requirement of this Act, other than a failure within Article 29, the inspector may serve an improvement notice requiring the employer to remedy the contravention within a stated period.
2. For a first or minor contravention, an inspector must consider whether an improvement notice, rather than a penalty, is the proportionate response, having regard to the size of the undertaking and to whether the contravention was deliberate.
3. A penalty must not be imposed for a contravention that is remedied within the period stated in an improvement notice, unless the contravention was deliberate, was repeated, or caused serious harm.
4. This Article does not limit the enforcement of a failure within Article 29 or of a deliberate or repeated contravention.

PART VIII
ENFORCEMENT AND WAGE PROTECTION

Article 32: Inspection.

1. The Labor Inspection Office of the Department is responsible for the enforcement of this Act.
2. An inspector may, for the purpose of enforcing this Act—
   1. enter a workplace at a reasonable time;
   2. inspect it and the records kept there;
   3. require a person to provide information or a document; and
   4. serve a notice under Article 31.
3. An employer must not obstruct an inspector, and must not subject a worker to detriment for giving information to an inspector.

Article 33: Complaints, conciliation, and remedies.

1. A worker may complain of a contravention of this Act.
2. Before a complaint proceeds to a court, the matter must be referred for early conciliation through the dispute-resolution machinery of the chambers under the Chambers of Guilds and Corporations Act, 1715, and a complaint proceeds only where conciliation does not resolve it.
3. On a complaint that conciliation does not resolve, a court may make a declaration, order the payment of compensation or of a sum due, order the reinstatement or re-engagement of an employee, or make another order this Act provides.
4. The Secretary may make regulations as to the procedure on a complaint under this Act and the time within which a complaint must be made.

Article 34: Cure of a technical contravention.

1. Where an employer contravenes a requirement of this Act that is technical or procedural, and the contravention is not deliberate, the employer may cure it within a reasonable period after becoming aware of it.
2. A contravention cured under this Article does not give rise to a penalty, but does not affect a right of a worker to a sum or a benefit withheld by the contravention.
3. This Article does not apply to a failure within Article 29, or to a contravention that causes a worker loss that is not made good.

Article 35: Protection of wages and of disclosure.

1. An employer must pay a worker's wages in full and on time, and must not make a deduction from them except as authorized by law, by the contract, or by the worker in writing.
2. A public authority and a large undertaking must pay a supplier that is a small undertaking within the period provided for under Article 19 of the General Appropriations and Taxation Act, 1760.
3. A worker who, in good faith, discloses that this Act or the 1706 Act is being contravened, whether to the employer, to an inspector, or to the Department, has the right not to be subjected to detriment or dismissed for the disclosure.

Article 36: Penalties.

1. A person who fails to comply with a notice under Article 31 or 32, who obstructs an inspector, or who subjects a worker to detriment contrary to this Act, commits an offense and is liable to a fine.
2. An offense under Article 29 is dealt with under this Act and the general criminal law, and an inspector must refer a suspected offense under Article 29 to the appropriate prosecuting authority.
3. A fine or a penalty under this Act is denominated in NAX€, and is set having regard to the gravity of the contravention and the size of the undertaking.

Article 37: Employer support and certification.

1. The Secretary must provide guidance, in plain language, to help employers, and in particular small undertakings, to comply with this Act.
2. The Secretary may, through the Federal Apprenticeship Program and the employment and training services of the Department, support an employer that trains workers or that engages apprentices.
3. The Secretary may establish a voluntary scheme under which an undertaking that meets the standards of this Act may be certified as a fair-work employer, and may make regulations for the scheme.

PART IX
FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 38: Amendment of the 1706 Act.

1. The 1706 Act is amended so that working time, protection against unfair dismissal, equal treatment in employment, the protection of non-standard work, and collective bargaining by sector are governed by this Act, and the two Acts are construed as one.
2. The Secretary may by regulation make the amendments to the 1706 Act, and to another enactment, that are consequential on this Act, but a regulation under this Article must not reduce a right or a protection conferred by the 1706 Act.

Article 39: Phased commencement and support for small undertakings.

1. The Secretary may by regulation provide for a provision of this Act to come into force on different days for undertakings of different sizes, so that a small undertaking is given additional time to prepare.
2. A regulation under this Article may provide additional time only, and must not exempt an undertaking from a standard of this Act.
3. During a period of additional time, the Secretary must provide a small undertaking with guidance and support to meet the standard, and enforcement against it proceeds under Article 31.

Article 40: Constitutional basis.

1. This Act is enacted under the legislative competence of the Federation in respect of labor, employment, and social standards, conferred by the Proclamation of Punta Santiago, Article 20 of which provides that the Cortes Federales determines the regulation of collective bargaining and the governance of labor relations, and exercised since the Rights and Standards at Work Act, 1706.
2. This Act applies uniformly across the Federation, without prejudice to the administration of its provisions by a Region where this Act or a regulation so provides.

Article 41: Regulations.

1. The Secretary may make regulations for carrying this Act into effect.
2. A power to make regulations under a particular Article includes a power to make different provision for different cases, sectors, or sizes of undertaking.
3. Regulations under this Act are subject to this Act, and must not reduce, dispense with, or alter a duty or protection that this Act imposes.
4. Regulations under this Act must be published in the Gazette.

Article 42: Review.

1. The Secretary must review the operation of this Act, and lay a report of the review before the Assembly, within three years of its commencement and afterward at intervals of not more than five years.
2. A review must assess the effect of this Act on employment, on wages, on the security of workers, and on undertakings, and must judge the Act by its results, in the manner of the Parap Principles.

Article 43: Commencement and severability.

1. This Act comes into force on receiving the Royal Assent, subject to Article 39.
2. This Act must be published in the Gazette within seven days beginning with the day of the Royal Assent.
3. If a provision of this Act is held to be invalid, the remaining provisions continue in force.

Amendments

No amendments to date.

Voting record

Under the Federal Accord coalition agreement, 1759 the three governing parties, together holding 448 of the 801 seats, are committed to the Government's legislative program, of which this bill is a part.

Federal Assembly, 1760 AN (to be completed)

Political party	Yes	No	Abstain/absent	Total	% Support
Alliance for a Just Nouvelle Alexandrie (AJNA)				260
Civic Governance Alliance (CGA)				95
Federal Consensus Party (FCP)				93
Federal Humanist Party (FHP)				293
Independent				50
Republican Party of Oportia (RPO)				10
Total				801

See also

• Rights and Standards at Work Act, 1706
• Rights and Standards at Work Act, 1727
• Chambers of Guilds and Corporations Act, 1715
• Labor unions in Nouvelle Alexandrie
• Department of Labor (Nouvelle Alexandrie)
• General Appropriations and Taxation Act, 1760
• Cost of Living Relief Act, 1760
• 14th Cortes Federales