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FWC yet to address "difficult issues" in SJSP scheme

Unions have already lodged a significant number of 'same job, same pay' applications, while recruiters remain in the dark as to how some of the scheme's "difficult issues" will play out, a lawyer says.

Since coming into effect in December last year as part of the Closing Loopholes legislation, the scheme – which provides for regulated labour hire arrangement (RLHA) orders – has had high take-up from unions in comparison to other aspects of the laws, such as multi-employer bargaining, says Kingston Reid partner Brad Popple.

There are two main reasons for this, he tells Shortlist.

The first is that when an RLHA order is made, it can have a "very significant effect on the terms and conditions" of the employees it covers...