Employment Law (LAWS50064)
Graduate coursework level 5Points: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)
About this subject
Contact information
Summer Term
Teaching staff:
Anna Chapman (Subject Coordinator)
For current student enquiries, contact the Law School Academic Support Office
Semester 2
Teaching staff:
Tess Hardy (Subject Coordinator)
For current student enquiries, contact the Law School Academic Support Office
Overview
| Availability(Quotas apply) | Summer Term Semester 2 |
|---|---|
| Fees | Look up fees |
Employment Law is an increasingly diverse and complex field of legal regulation governing employment and industrial rights and obligations. In Australia, it comprises the common law of contract and several overlapping statutory schemes including principally the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), Commonwealth and State equal opportunity legislation, and work health and safety statutes. These different legal frameworks can only be fully understood and appreciated in their industrial, economic, social, political and public health contexts. Those contexts include international influences, dynamic federal-state relations, the tradition of Australian industrial relations with its values of industrial justice, strategic decision-making and advocacy of industrial associations, labour market trends, social movements of equality, and new forms of business and work organisation.
This subject explores the field of employment law in detail, with a focus on the processes of law-making and intersections between different sources of rights and obligations. Dispute resolution and enforcement in the field of employment law poses particular challenges, across the different statutory frameworks, and these matters will also be examined.
Indicative list of principal topics:
- the common law framing of contracts of employment and the contracting arrangements of independent contractors and the self-employed;
- various aspects of the common law contract of employment including express and implied duties of employers and employees;
- international labour conventions;
- the constitutional framework underlying the Fair Work Act;
- statutory standards under the Fair Work Act regarding unfair dismissal, minimum wage rates, hours of work and leave;
- the regulation of employment rights and working conditions by modern awards and enterprise agreements under the Fair Work Act;
- the regulation of issues of discrimination, bullying and harassment under the Fair Work Act and discrimination and harassment under equal opportunity legislation; and
- the regulation of work health and safety.
This subject will also examine a number of thematic issues, chosen from topics such as the rights of non-standard workers, fair and equal treatment at work, safety at work, work-life intersections, trade unions and freedom of association, employment security, compliance and enforcement, and employment law responses to economic and organisational restructuring, such as those arising in the gig economy.
Intended learning outcomes
A student who has successfully completed this subject will have an advanced and integrated understanding of the specialised and cross-disciplinary field of employment law. This includes a deep appreciation of the intersections and specific contexts and histories of each unique regulatory framework that comprises employment law. Students will have obtained specialised skills to:
- critically analyse and reflect on different literatures that seek to understand the field of employment law through, for example, capital and labour relations, regulation theory and critical approaches such as feminist scholarship.
- engage in a sophisticated manner in debates taking place within Australia and internationally on the appropriate role of the state in regulating labour relations
- interpret and transmit technical knowledge and skills across the field of employment law through addressing problems and case studies of contemporary and emerging issues in the field.
- self-direct in an autonomous and creative manner the production of a piece of legal writing that develops arguments in a highly structured, supported and referenced way
Generic skills
Students who successfully complete this subject will have developed:
- An integrated understanding of the specialised subject-matter of employment law, through the different legal frameworks governing work relations;
- A sophisticated appreciation of, and ability to engage in, the complex theoretical, policy and practical debates taking place in Australia and elsewhere in relation to employment law and its enforcement; and
- An extended understanding of recent developments in the field, the literature, and the professional practice of employment law.
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
All of
| Code | Name | Teaching period | Credit Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| LAWS50023 | Legal Method and Reasoning | Summer Term (Dual-Delivery - Parkville) |
12.5 |
| LAWS50024 | Principles of Public Law | Semester 1 (On Campus - Parkville) |
12.5 |
| LAWS50026 | Obligations | Semester 1 (On Campus - Parkville) |
12.5 |
| LAWS90140 | Disputes and Ethics | Semester 2 (On Campus - Parkville) |
12.5 |
| LAWS50029 | Contracts | Semester 2 (On Campus - Parkville) |
12.5 |
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
| Code | Name | Teaching period | Credit Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| LAWS70371 | Principles of Employment Law |
November (On Campus - Parkville)
March (On Campus - Parkville)
|
12.5 |
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Assessment
| Description | Timing | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
Interim exam
| During the teaching period | 20% |
Written Exam
| During the assessment period | 80% |
Additional details
The due dates of interim assessment will be made available to students on the Assessment Schedule on the Juris Doctor Canvas LMS Community. Note, these are updated regularly.
The timing of centrally managed final examinations can be found when the exam timetable is made available.
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Quotas apply to this subject
Dates & times
- Summer Term
Principal coordinator Anna Chapman Mode of delivery On Campus (Parkville) Contact hours 36 Total time commitment 150 hours Pre teaching start date 14 January 2025 Pre teaching requirements Please refer to Canvas LMS to check on the pre-class readings and preparatory learning activities before the teaching period commences. Teaching period 28 January 2025 to 11 February 2025 Last self-enrol date 16 January 2025 Census date 31 January 2025 Last date to withdraw without fail 14 February 2025 Assessment period ends 28 February 2025 Summer Term contact information
Teaching staff:
Anna Chapman (Subject Coordinator)For current student enquiries, contact the Law School Academic Support Office
- Semester 2
Principal coordinator Tess Hardy Mode of delivery On Campus (Parkville) Contact hours 36 Total time commitment 150 hours Pre teaching requirements Please refer to Canvas LMS to check on the pre-class readings and preparatory learning activities before the teaching period commences. Teaching period 28 July 2025 to 26 October 2025 Last self-enrol date 8 August 2025 Census date 1 September 2025 Last date to withdraw without fail 26 September 2025 Assessment period ends 21 November 2025 Semester 2 contact information
Teaching staff:
Tess Hardy (Subject Coordinator)For current student enquiries, contact the Law School Academic Support Office
What do these dates mean
Visit this webpage to find out about these key dates, including how they impact on:
- Your tuition fees, academic transcript and statements.
- And for Commonwealth Supported students, your:
- Student Learning Entitlement. This applies to all students enrolled in a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP).
Subjects withdrawn after the census date (including up to the ‘last day to withdraw without fail’) count toward the Student Learning Entitlement.
Additional delivery details
This subject has an enrolment quota. Please refer to the Juris Doctor enrolment webpage for further information about re-enrolment and subject quotas. Melbourne Law School may reserve places in a subject for inbound study abroad and exchange students.
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Further information
- Texts
Prescribed texts
- For Summer Term - Specialist reading materials made available via the LMS.
- For Semester 2 - Andrew Stewart, Stewart’s Guide to Employment Law, 8th edition, Federation Press [expected to be published mid 2025]
Close to the teaching period, students will be advised about other specialist reading materials. Make sure to check Canvas LMS in the lead-up to the study period.
- Related Handbook entries
- Links to additional information
- Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students
Last updated: 4 March 2025