LAWS12071 - Australian Employment Law

General Information

Unit Synopsis

The Australian employment legal relationship is complex and varied. This unit is structured under three themes and modules. They are (1) entering the employment relationship (2) regulating the employment relationship and (3) ending the employment relationship. The main focus of the unit is the federal Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the FWAct) and the common law contract of employment. This FWAct dominates Australian employment law and is increasingly encroaching upon other areas such as sexual harassment and discrimination which were traditionally the domain of other statutes. Understanding the FWAct is crucial to practising in this area in Australia. Students from international jurisdictions may see some similarities if they come from Common Law countries. However, by and large Australia has a unique system that is not replicated elsewhere in the world.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 2
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Pre-requisite: 24 credit points of law units

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2024

Term 1 - 2025 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2026 Profile
Online

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Written Assessment 40%
2. Written Assessment 60%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 88.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 33.78% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Unit Coordinator and feedback from previous student.
Feedback
Reintroduced the workbook exercises for the first written assessment.
Recommendation
Retain this assessment for 2024.
Action Taken
This was actioned.
Source: Unit Coordinator and student feedback
Feedback
Provide more live and real opportunities for immediate feedback in relation to problem solving in the live zoom workshops.
Recommendation
Create more opportunities in the live workshops for students to get feedback on their problem - solving skills.
Action Taken
This was actioned.
Source: Unit Coordinator and student feedback
Feedback
Reinforce the changing and volatile nature of employment law content in the current political environment.
Recommendation
Help students develop the skills to be comfortable with dynamic changes in the law during the term.
Action Taken
This was actioned.
Source: Unit Coordinator
Feedback
Scaffolding of assessments
Recommendation
Explain scaffolding and how it works to students so they may be empowered in improving their performance with each assessment item.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Unit Coordinator
Feedback
Reinforce basic skills of reading amending statutes
Recommendation
Consider including more formative opportunities to follow the amendments to current statutes.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Interpret and apply Australian employment law principles to fact scenarios in order to develop problem solving skills and legal reasoning.
  2. Critically examine themes and trends in Australian employment law.
  3. Develop cross cultural competency skills through an examination of employment discrimination laws.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Written Assessment • • •
2 - Written Assessment • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Communication • • •
2 - Problem Solving • •
3 - Critical Thinking •
4 - Information Literacy • •
7 - Cross Cultural Competence •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10