The federal government will incorporate a new duty in award and agreement model consultation clauses for employers to genuinely consult employees before changing rosters or working hours, according to Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten.

He announced the change in a statement yesterday summarising the further amendments to the Fair Work Act he and the Prime Minister revealed this week (see Related Articles).

Shorten said the clauses would require employers "before making any decision to change rosters or working hours, to genuinely consult with affected employees about the impact of the changes on their family life".

Change significant for award-covered workers: Stewart

University of Adelaide Professor of Law, Andrew Stewart, said the announcement was "obviously what the Prime Minister was talking about last weekend when she talked about strengthening protections against roster changes".

"It's definitely significant for workers covered by awards, in that consultation at present is typically only triggered by 'major' workplace changes, and there isn't the specific focus on family responsibilities."

He said that for workers covered by enterprise agreements, yesterday's announcement didn't indicate whether the change only applied to the model consultation clause, or also to the requirements in s205 of the Fair Work Act.

"If the former, then employers would be able to draft consultation clauses for their agreements that omitted this new requirement, provided something else in the agreement (usually the pay rates) offered some compensating benefit.

"If the latter, then employers would have to expand their consultation obligations to cover this type of change," he said.

The other changes canvassed this week (see (Related Articles) include:

• giving bullied workers a right to seek redress through the Fair Work Commission, which will be obliged to list the matter within 14 days;
• extending the right to request flexible working provisions in the NES to cover all carers, workers with disability, mature aged workers and workers experiencing domestic violence;
• strengthening protections for pregnant workers;
• extending the period in which parents can take parallel unpaid parental leave from three weeks to eight weeks and allowing them to choose when to take it; and
• providing an express right to request a return-to-work on a part-time basis after taking unpaid parental leave