Anthony Albanese’s government making a major law change that’s set to boost YOUR pay

Employers will not be able to ban staff from talking about their salaries under new workplace laws proposed by the Albanese government to close the gender pay gap.

It would also become easier for the industrial umpire to order wage increases for workers so that men and women get the same pay for equivalent work.

Employment Minister Tony Burke will introduce the first tranche of his industrial relations reforms to parliament next week.

The bill will include a ban on secrecy clauses that stop employees discussing their pay. Mr Burke said the clauses are often used to conceal gender pay discrepancies.

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The legislation also promises to put gender equity at the centre of Australia’s employment laws, and will introduce two new panels inside the Fair Work Commission – one on pay equity, and one on the care and community sector.

The bill will put in place a statutory ‘equal remuneration principle’ that will make it easier for the FWC to order pay increases for low-paid, female-dominated industries.

Queensland has a similar principle that’s designed to ensure gender-based assumptions are not used to assess work value.

‘A key objective of this bill will be to help close the gender pay gap,’ Mr Burke said.

‘Women should not be paid less than men – it’s that simple.’

Absent from the first stage of reforms were controversial plans to bolster multi-employer bargaining rights, which the federal government committed to during the jobs and skills summit in September.

Unions say the reforms would allow employers from different businesses to pool resources to advocate for pay increases, but some business groups warn it could lead to a spike in industrial action and subsequently drag on productivity.

Mr Burke said further measures the ‘secure jobs, better pay bill’ would be announced before it is introduced to parliament.

A Senate committee on work and care also released its interim report on Tuesday, which included eight ‘urgent’ recommendations for improving the balance between these two responsibilities.

It recommended the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations investigate law reforms to support flexible working arrangements and protect workers switching off from their jobs outside of contracted hours.