TrueLocal offers Small Businesses Free Education Course on Fair Work Act

Small Businesses Receive Free Eduction Course on Fair Work Act 2009

Online business directory, TrueLocal.com.au, is providing small businesses a free online education course to help them understand the key features of the new Fair Work Act 2009 implemented on 1 January 2010.

The Fair Work Act 2009 is the second major overhaul of the industrial relations landscape in four years.The first phase of the new legislation came into effect on 1 July 2009.

As part of TrueLocal’s e-Learning Centre and in partnership with online training company Learning Seat, the Introduction to Fair Work Act 2009 course is designed to introduce participants to the Fair Work Act and its main characteristics.

It focuses on the unfair dismissal provisions including the Fair Dismissal Code for Small Businesses and the new collective bargaining framework. The course aims to help participants not only understand the new legislation but also enable them to tackle the challenge of its practical implementation.

Chief executive officer of TrueLocal.com.au, John Allan, said that small business employers were struggling to understand the new legislation. “Recent research from the Australian Retailers Association found that almost three quarters of those surveyed did not fully understand their obligations under the Fair Work Act.

 “Identifying this problem, we have teamed up with our e-learning provider Learning Seat to offer small businesses a free online course to help them navigate through the new legislation.

“Small businesses should be confident in the way they operate in order to succeed. In offering the Introduction to Fair Work Act 2009 course, small business owners can use the knowledge gained to adapt their business operations to comply with the new Act.

“In addition, after downloading the course, they can complete it at their own pace, in their own time and in an easy format.”

The one hour course can be downloaded from the TrueLocal Small Business eLearning centre found at http://www.truelocal.com.au/business-centre.

It aims to:

• Identify key features of the Fair Work legislation.
• Define the new unfair dismissal provisions and the Fair Dismissal Code for Small Businesses.
• Define the new collective bargaining framework.
• Respond appropriately to the challenge of implementing the Fair Work legislation in your workplace.

Mr Allan continued: “Employers unaware of the content of this new Act may find themselves in trouble when challenged by employees on issues such as penalty rates, overtime and leave loadings that have changed with the new rollout.

“I encourage small business owners to log on and take the free course to get a better understanding of the new legislation changes.”

The course is available at no cost until March 2010. TrueLocal.com.au’s e-Learning centre gives businesses advertising on TrueLocal.com.au access to over 400 of Learning Seat’s online staff learning and development courses including Self Development, Project Management, IT & Computing Applications, Bullying Prevention and OH&S in the Workplace.