The University of Sydney
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Pathfinder main page

Australian Labour Law

Contents:

1. Introduction
2. Legislation
3. Interpreting legislation: extrinsic materials
4. Cases
5. Awards
6. Using the catalogue
7. Some current Australian texts (post 1990)
8. Looseleaf services
9. Conference/seminar proceedings
10. Labour law journals held in the Law Library
11. Journal indexes
12. Bibliographies
13. Online services
14. Fellow travellers
15. Just published
16. Dictionaries
17. Dictionaries of legal abbreviations
18. Not held, try ...

1	Introduction

When researching Australian labour law, the researcher first needs to ascertain if the question revolves around federal or state or international issues. Once this has been addressed articulate more precisely the information required. For example :

• a bill or act of parliament
• awards
• extrinsic materials such as explanatory memorandum/note; parliamentary Second Reading speeches (Hansard); government reports
• cases
• commentary
• international treaty.

Please note the Australian spelling of 'labour' contrasts with the US spelling of 'labor'. In using the catalogue note the we use Library of Congress subject headings so use 'labor'. This pathfinder is primarily aimed at the federal and New South Wales jurisdiction. For interstate materials, readers may wish to consult the material listed under Looseleaf services.

Other related topics not covered here include: Alternative dispute resolution; Arbitration workers compensation; Occupational health and safety; Equal opportunity.

2	Legislation

Legislation consists of acts and statutory rules or regulations. Legislation comes in many formats. What matters most is not the medium, but whether it is up to date. Sometimes you may need the superseded legislation as it was at a particular point of time.

Legislation may be found in the following formats:

• Sessional (as passed by houses of parliament)
• Reprints (as reprinted by government printers and commercial publishers)
• Looseleaf (as published in services by CCH or Butterworths)
• Electronic (as available via CDROM's or the Internet or online)
• Digest (in Australian Industrial Digest or Australian Current Law Legislation or Australian Legal Monthly Digest)

Sometimes the looseleaf versions of legislation are more up to date than the electronic ones, as the services are often updated weekly whereas the electronic databases subscribed to by the Library are for the most part are updated monthly (and sometimes quarterly).

3	Interpreting legislation:
	extrinsic materials

Since 1984, the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth) s 15AB allowed for the use of extrinsic materials in the interpretation of legislation. The extrinsic material includes:

• Explanatory memoranda (EMs)
• Parliamentary debates (Hansard), in particular Second reading speeches
• Government, royal commission, law reform commission and boards of inquiry reports
• Federal bills may be found at the Billsnet site at http://www.aph.gov.au/parlinfo/billsnet/main.htm. Explanatory memoranda are attached to each bill.

Please note, some EMs have supplementary EMs to the same bill. There are a number of bills held over to the following year and passed, yet the relevant EM will be that introduced with the bill the previous year.

4

Cases

Cases are published in various formats. Some good places to look are:

• Looseleaf services
  (such as Australian Industrial Law Reports) or pamphlet parts (Industrial Arbitration Reports and other law report series)
• On the Web
  at Australian Industrial Relations Commission Decisions Cases <http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/IRCommA>

  Industrial Relations Court of Australia Cases <http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/irc> This contains cases from the IRCA 1994-97. From 1997 the court's jurisdiction was transferred to the Federal Court of Australia.

  OSIRIS (Industrial Relations Information Site) <http://indrel.agps.gov.au>

• Digested
  in the Australian Industrial Digest, Australian Digest, Australian Legal Monthly Digest, Australian Current Law Reporter.

• Court or commission registry.

To see if a case has been reported or judicially considered, try one of the following electronic databases on the Law Library Network under Case citators:

• Australian Case Citator
• CaseBase
• Hypercite

If you have to get a case, make sure you have the correct case name, court and date if possible.

5

Awards

Awards are published in various formats. Some good places to look are:

• Looseleaf services
  (such as Australian Industrial Law Reports, formerly Australian Industrial Law Review) or pamphlet parts (Commonwealth Arbitration Reports).

• On the Web:
  OSIRIS (Industrial Relations Information Site)- <http://indrel.agps.gov.au> Lists federal awards agreements and associated documents. New South Wales Awards at:<http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/nsw-awards>. This is a joint NSW Dept. of Industrial Relations and the Australian Business Chamber, site.

6	Using the catalogue

Where are the books on Australian labour law? It depends on the subject matter and on the format. Industrial Relations is taught within the Faculty of Economics. Some books in the catalogue will be in other libraries of the University of Sydney. Here is a list of possible subject headings to look for :

Australia - Officials and employees - Legal status, laws, etc.

Collective bargaining - Australia

Employees - Dismissal of - Law and legislation - (jurisdiction eg. Australia)

Industrial relations - (jurisdiction eg. Australia or New South Wales)

Labor disputes - (jurisdiction eg. Australia)

Labour laws and legislation - Australia - States

Labour laws and legislation - (jurisdiction eg. Australia or New South Wales)

Labour contract - (jurisdiction eg. Australia or New South Wales)

Law firms - Employees - (jurisdiction eg. New South Wales)

Trade union - Employees - (jurisdiction eg Australia)

Note: when keying in terms, no need to capitalise letters.

The web catalogue is located at <http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/catalogue>. When using the catalogue you can search via a number of options including author, title, keyword and subject. The catalogue is very sophisticated and allows you to do complex searches.

A sample record is shown below. Note the Location, call number and status of the book.

AUTHOR Macken, James Joseph.

TITLE The law of employment/by James J Macken, Greg McCarry, Carolyn Sappideen.

EDITION 3rd ed.

PUBLISHER Sydney : Law Book Co, 1990.

DESCRIPTION xix, 351p. ; 25 cm.

NOTE Employment. Law. Australia (ANB/PRECIS SIN 0403717). Previous ed. published as: The common law of employment. Sydney; Law Book Co., 1978.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Includes biographical references and index.

SUBJECT Labor laws and legislation -- Australia.

OTHER AUTHOR McCarry, GJ (Gregory)

Sappideen, C (Carolyn)

| LOCATION CALL # STATUS |

|1 > Law Undergraduate 344.94011 2A CHECK SHELF |

|2 > Law Undergraduate 344.94011 2A CHECK SHELF |

Periodicals (journals) are included in the catalogue (by title), and the information provided includes details of the issues received. Individual journal articles are not catalogued.

7	Some current Australian
	texts (post 1990)

This list excludes casebooks:

• Bennett, L Making labour law in Australia: Industrial relations, politics and law, Sydney, Law Book Co, 1994.
  Law Undergraduate 344.9401 59
• Boulle, L & Parks,W Employees and the law, Sydney, Butterworths, 1993.
  Law Research 344.9401 55
• Brooks, B Contract of employment: Principles of Australian employment law, 4th ed, North Ryde, NSW, CCH, 1992.
• Catanzariti, J & Baragwanath, M Workplace Relations Act: a user friendly guide, Manly, NSW, Newsletter Information Services, 1997.
  Law Undergraduate 344.9401 77
• Creighton, B & Stewart, A Labour law- an introduction, 2nd ed, Leichhardt, NSW, Federation Press, 1994.
  Law Undergraduate 344.9401 44A
• Lee, M & Sheldon, P (eds) Workplace relations, workplace law and employment relations, Sydney, Butterworths, 1997.
  Law Research 344.9401 86
• Macken, JJ Employment revolution, Leichhardt, NSW, Federation Press, 1992.
  Law Undergraduate 344.9401 56
• Macken, JJ et al Law of employment, 4th ed, Sydney, LBC Information Services, 1997.
  Law Undergraduate 344.9401 42A
• McCallum, R et al (eds) Employment security, Leichhardt, NSW, Federation Press, 1994.
  Law Undergraduate 344.9401259 9
• Punch, P Australian industrial law, North Ryde, NSW, CCH Australia, 1995.
  Law Undergraduate 344.9401 65
• Riley, J, McCarry, G & Smith, M Workplace relations: a guide to the 1996 changes, Sydney, LBC Information Services, 1997.
  Law Undergraduate 344.9401 84
• Ronfeldt,P & McCallum, R (eds) Enterprise bargaining: trade unions and the law, Leichhardt, NSW, Federation Press, 1995.
  Law Undergraduate 331.890994 34
• Taylor, E Guide to employment law and practice in Australia - the manager's guide to employment law and practice in Australia, Melbourne, Business Library, 1991.
  Law Research 344.9401 51
• Wallace-Bruce NL Employment relations law Sydney, LBC Information Services, 1998.
  Law Undergraduate 344.9401 95
• Wallace-Bruce, NI Outline of employment law. Sydney, Butterworths, 1994.
  Law Undergraduate 344.9401 60
• Weeks, P Trade union security law: A study of preference and compulsory unionism, Leichhardt, NSW, Federation Press, 1995.
  Law Undergraduate 344.9401889 1

8	Looseleaf services

The following looseleaf are housed either on Closed Reserve or in the Law Looseleaf area adjacent to the Library entrance.The major Australian labour law looseleaf services are:

• Australian employment law guide LL344.94011 1
• Australian employment legislation,4 vols. LL344.9401 27
• Australian labour law reporter (Closed Reserve)
• Employment relations law manual - federal and New South Wales LL344.9401 9
• Federal industrial legislation LL344.9401026 1
• Industrial law New South Wales LL344.94401 2A
• International encyclopaedia for labour law and industrial relations LL344.01 2
• Managing leave & holidays LL344.9401257 1
• Recruitment and termination guide LL344.9401 63
• Research manual of industrial law LL344.9401 49

In addition to the above there are interstate and overseas looseleaf services,

(eg International encyclopaedia for labour law and industrial relations LL344.01 2), specialist looseleaf services on workers compensation, occupational health and safety law, superannuation, payroll administration, accident compensation, equal opportunity.

Note also the commentary in Halsbury's laws of Australia under Industrial law and the Laws of Australia under Consolidated index.

9	Conference/seminar
	proceedings

There are many conference/seminar proceedings covering aspects of labour law. The Law Library holds a number of these. Suggested subject headings include:

Labour contract - Australia - Congresses

Employees - Dismissal of - Law and legislation - Australia - Congresses

Labor laws and legislation - Australia (or other jurisdictions)

Industrial relations - Australia (or other jurisdictions)

Here is a sample of proceedings held:

Employment law 1996: recent developments and trends, Bondi Junction, NSW, LAAMS Publications, 1996
Law Research 344.9401 73

Principles of employment law, St Leonards, NSW, College of Law 1996.
Law Research 344.9401 70

10	Labour law journals
	held in the Law Library

The following journals are held on Level 10 of the Law School Library and the current issues are located to the right of the Library entrance.

Australian

• Australian industrial law news
• Australian journal of labour law
• Employment law bulletin (CCH)
• Employment law bulletin (Prospect)
• Journal of industrial relations
• Working paper series (Flinders University of South Australia. National Institute of Labour Studies)

New Zealand

• Butterworths employment law bulletin.

United Kingdom

• Industrial law journal

United States

• Comparative labor law journal
• Industrial & labor relations review
• Labor law journal
• Labor lawyer

11	Journal indexes

The Law Library subscribes to numerous journal indexes. The following are useful when looking for journal articles on labour law, and are accessible from our Databases Website.

ABI/Inform This is a business index which includes overseas tax and accounting journals. The focus is US though it includes other jurisdictions including Australia. Many of the articles indexed are available in full text.

Australasian Legal Literature Index (ALLI) This is published by Monash University Law Library and is a general law index with an Australian focus. It includes major labour law journals and conference proceedings.

Austrom This contains a number of separate data bases including the Attorney General's Information Service (AGIS) and the Australian Public Affairs Information Service (APAIS). These index Australian law journals.

Business Australia on Disk This is a collection of Australian business bibliographic data bases including Australian Industrial Relations Database (IREL) produced by the Library of Queensland University of Technology; Commonwealth Dept. of Industrial Relations Database (WORKLIT) produced by the Commonwealth Dept. of Industrial Relations; AIM Management and Training Database (AIMMAT) produced by the Australian Institute of Management NSW Training Centre Ltd; Giblin Working Papers Database (GIBLIN) produced by the Giblin Economics and Commerce Library, University of Melbourne; Management and Environment Information Database (MEDGE) produced by Information Edge; OMN Training Resources Database (OMN) produced by OMN Productions.

EconLit This is a major index of economics literature.

Index to Legal Periodicals (WilsonDisc) This is a major general law index. It has an American focus but includes a wide coverage of other jurisdictions.

Legal Journals IndexThis is a British publication andits coverage is Britain and Europe.

LegalTrac A major general law periodicals index. It is an American index but includes other jurisdictions and has the widest coverage of any of our indexes.

We also have the print editions of many of the above (look up under Title in the online catalogue for locations)

Please note the US spellings and terms when using US based journal indexes eg labor not labour, organization not organisation, antitrust not trade practices, condominiums not strata title, eminent domain not land acquisition.

12	Bibliographies

Bischoff, R et al Australian labour law: a selected bibliography, Melbourne, University of Melbourne, 1985. Law Research 016.3449401 1.
Updated by Selected bibliography (1988) 1 Australian Journal of Labour Law 107-13 and later issues.

13	Online services

Web Resources

There are some useful employment and related resources available on the Web:

• Australian Centre for Industrial Relations Research and Training (ACIRRT) - University of Sydney homepage at <http://www.econ.usyd.edu.au/acirrt/index2.htm> This provides information regarding their services, conferences, publications, news and staff.
• Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law - University of Melbourne Law Faculty <http://online.anu.edu.au/law/pub/research/celrl/Welcome.html/
  celr/Welcome.html>. This lists its members, course and other educational information, publications, conference, labour law related links.
• Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII) homepage is <http://www.austlii.edu.au> This contains federal and state legislation and cases and materials supplied by various organisations. There are useful links to a large number of local and international legal sites.

14	Fellow travellers

Note the following dictionaries of legal academics whose interests cover employment law:

• Australasian Law Teachers Association Interest Groups, in particular: Labour Law available via the LBC Information Services website URL: <http://www.lbc.com.au> Under the category Resources, then ALTA Directory, then Interest groups.
• Edwards, G & Sullivan, T (eds) Australian directory of academics, 4th ed, Kenmore, Universal Consultancy Services, 1995. Law Reference 378.111025 1 Using the Index look up Law, then the subdivisions of: Asian labour law; Employment law; Industrial law; Industrial relations law; Labour law; Trade union law.

15	Just published

To find recent and forthcoming publications use: Legal research in Australia and New Zealand (Centre for International and Public Law, Faculty of Law, Australian National University). Note also the various publishers catalogues.

16	Dictionaries

• McCallum, RC (ed) Butterworths employment and law dictionary, Sydney, Butterworths, 1997.
  Law Reference 344.0103 1
• Yerbury, D & Karlsson, M CCH Macquarie dictionary of employment and industrial relations, North Ryde, NSW, CCH Australia, 1992.
  Fisher Ref/Business Ref 331.03 4

17	Dictionaries
	of legal abbreviations

There are many places to look for legal abbreviations. The ones frequently used in the Law Library and held on Law Reserve are:

• Fong, C & Edwards, A Australian and New Zealand legal abbreviations, 2nd ed, Sydney, Australian Law Librarians' Group NSW Division, 1995.
• Kavass, II & Prince, MM World dictionary of legal abbreviations, Buffalo, NY, Hein & Co, 1991- (Looseleaf)
• Prince, MM Beiber's Dictionary of legal abbreviations, 4th ed, Buffalo, NY, Hein & Co, 1993.
• Raistrick, D Index to legal citations and abbreviations, 2nd ed, London, Bowker-Saur, 1993.

For non-legal abbreviations, suggest: Jones, DJ Australian dictionary of acronyms and abbreviations, 4th ed, Canberra, ALIA Press, 1995.
Law Reference 423.1 80A

18	Not held, try...

Finding Journals:you can find out which Australian library holds it by looking up the electronic database called SIAL (Serials in Australian Libraries) which is available on the Law Library Network under Legal Reference Tools.

Finding Books etc: try the UNSW or Macquarie Catalogues (links available from the Library Catalogues Page <http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/catalogue/othercat.html> or library staff can access a database called Kinetica for you to see which library holds the title needed.

Electronic Databases

CCH Electronic Industrial Relations Law Library.

Online services:

Butterworths Online <http://www.butterworths.com.au/> contains the information from the former Info-One service together with various Butterworths publications. It is a subscription only service.