Legislative amendments to ensure that casual employees working in the black coal mining industry are treated no less favourably than permanent employees under the Coal Mining Industry (Long Service Leave Funding) scheme are currently being advanced through the parliamentary process by the Albanese Government.
The measures give effect to Recommendation 4 of the KPMG Report Enhancing certainty and fairness: Independent Review of the Coal Mining Industry (Long Service Leave Funding) Scheme and are part of the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Protecting Worker Entitlement) Bill 2023.
Under the amendments, a casual employee’s casual loading would be applied to the levy paid by employers, and also to the payment of employees’ long service leave entitlements. Additionally, calculation methods for the accrual, payment and reporting of a casual employee’s long service leave entitlements would be updated to ensure casuals accrue service equitably with their permanent counterparts.
Coal LSL would also be required to publish the levy reporting form on the Federal Register of Legislation.
The amendments are subject to the passage of legislation.