Year

2024

Credit points

10

Campus offering

No unit offerings are currently available for this unit

Prerequisites

LAWS104 Foundations of Law and Legal Research , LAWS105 Contract Law

Teaching organisation

4 hours per week for twelve weeks or equivalent.

Unit rationale, description and aim

This elective unit allows students to develop specialist knowledge and building on knowledge and skills developed in the compulsory units.

Employment Law explores the relationships between employers and employees in Australian workplaces. The focus is on understanding the relevant common law and statutory entitlements and/or obligations that any one party may have in different workplace contexts and how to choose between the different enforcement mechanisms available. Topics include discrimination, sexual harassment, bullying, underpayment of wages, disciplinary procedures, termination of employment and strike action.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

Learning Outcome NumberLearning Outcome Description
LO1Describe the ways in which Australian employment laws protect the rights and dignity of Australian workers
LO2Develop and communicate reasoned opinions and advices related to employment matters.
LO3Critically analyse recent developments in the area of employment law

Content

Topics will include: 

  1. Overview of Australian Employment Law 
  2. The Employment Contract 
  3. Sources of Entitlements 
  4. Conditions of Employment 
  5. Express and Implied Duties 
  6. Equal Opportunity 
  7. Occupational Health and Safety 
  8. Dispute Resolution in Employment Relationships 
  9. Termination of Employment: Remedies under the Fair Work Act 
  10. Termination of Employment: Common Law Remedies 
  11. Industrial Action 

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

Mode: Lectures, tutorials, electronic consultation, library tasks and presentations or Online lectures and activities.  

 

Duration: 3 hours per week over 12 weeks or equivalent.  Students are expected to spend 150 hours in total for this unit.

 

This level two elective unit allows students to demonstrate knowledge, skills and understanding in a specialist area of law building on knowledge developed in the compulsory law units.

Our strategy is to encourage students to creatively engage with unit content and to apply knowledge , skills and understanding acquired in compulsory law units to a specialist area of law.

The unit is designed to be delivered in intensive, weekly mode or online mode. We have taken a multimodal learning approach to provide accessibility and flexibility to our students and a student-focused approach that increases depth of learning and engagement through actively utilising Canvas.  

Assessment strategy and rationale

The assessment strategy is designed to assess knowledge, skills and understanding in a specialist area of law, and to apply knowledge developed in the compulsory law units to a specialist area of law.  

The assessment tasks for this unit are designed to demonstrate achievement of each of the learning outcomes listed.  

Overview of assessments

Brief Description of Kind and Purpose of Assessment TasksWeightingLearning Outcomes

First Assignment - Problem Based Question or Research Essay which requires students to demonstrate ability to research the assigned topic and critically evaluate the relevant area of laws

50%

LO2, LO3

Second Assignment - Problem Based Question or Research Essay which requires students to demonstrate ability to research the assigned topic and critically evaluate the relevant area of laws

50%

LO1, LO2

Representative texts and references

Stewart, Andrew, Stewart's Guide to Employment Law (Federation Press, 5th ed, 2015) 

Have a question?

We're available 9am–5pm AEDT,
Monday to Friday

If you’ve got a question, our AskACU team has you covered. You can search FAQs, text us, email, live chat, call – whatever works for you.

Live chat with us now

Chat to our team for real-time
answers to your questions.

Launch live chat

Visit our FAQs page

Find answers to some commonly
asked questions.

See our FAQs