More than 540,000 small businesses, for the first time, will be forced to provide redundancy pay to sacked workers in a wide-ranging overhaul of the nation's employment laws.
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry workplace policy director Peter Anderson described it as a "bleak day" for employers and a "savage hit" on small business. He said all businesses would have to find an extra $260m to cover redundancies, and small business would account for $190m of that.
The Australian Industrial Relations Commission's landmark decision means small businesses are no longer exempt from the rules, and will have to pay eight weeks severance money to workers retrenched after four years service. The commission also set a new national standard for staff in large and medium businesses - instead of the old eight weeks redundancy pay, a worker with between nine and 10 years service will get 16 weeks severance pay.
