The Advocate | Issue 364| July, 2025

The Employment Relations Amendment Bill (“Bill”) was introduced in June 2025 and had its first reading in Parliament on 15 July 2025. In our Employment Relations Amendments Series we consider the proposed changes and their practical implications in detail. The first part of this series focuses on changes relating to collective agreements and new or prospective employees.

The Explanatory Note of the Bill sets out that the Government’s aim with these changes is to “reduce red tape for employers and increase freedom of choice for employees at the beginning of employment, as well as support the Government’s intention for 90-day trials to be available to all employers”. But what could the changes mean for employers in practice?

Current Law

Currently, where a new employee’s work is covered by a collective agreement, regardless of whether or not they are a union member, they must be employed under terms and conditions of the collective agreement for the first 30 days of their employment. An employer and employee may agree to additional terms and conditions on an individual basis, but they must be no less favourable than the terms of the collective agreement. This limits the ability of the parties to agree to individual terms and conditions of employment.

Unions can also request that employers provide specific information about the role and functions of the union to prospective employees. There are only limited circumstances where the employer can refuse to comply with this request.

Following the initial 30-day period, employers must also advise the union of the employee’s name and give them a copy of the employee’s active choice form, unless the employee objects.

Proposed Changes under the Bill

The Bill would remove the requirement for a new (non-union member) employee’s terms and conditions of employment be based on the collective agreement for the first 30 days of employment. The Bill also removes the requirement to provide the employee with an active choice form and other information about the role and functions of the union.

Once a new (non-union member) employee has entered into an individual employment agreement, the employer would only be required to:

Tell the employee:

(a) that there is a collective agreement that covers their work; and

(b) that they may join the union;

(c) how to contact the union; and

(d) that if the employee joins the union they will be bound by the collective agreement; and

Give the employee a copy of the collective agreement; and

With the employee’s agreement, advise the union as soon as practicable that the employee has entered into an individual employment agreement.

If there are multiple collective agreements covering the employee’s work, then the employer must provide a copy of the collective agreement that binds the most employees doing that work and inform the employee of the existence of the other collective agreement(s).

Practical Considerations

If this proposed change is passed into law in its current form, the first thing employers would need to consider is the terms of any applicable collective agreement. If:

there are details set out in the collective agreement about information that must be provided to prospective employees; and/or

there are any obligations over and above the existing legislation that are agreed in the collective agreement;

then employers will still be required to comply.

These changes would mean greater flexibility for employers and employees to agree to individual terms and conditions of employment from the outset. Notably, it would be significantly easier to put new employees on 90-day trial periods. However, any individual agreement cannot contain terms that undermine a collective agreement.