law essay
Assessment 3: 40% – Written Essay (due midnight Tuesday 18 October 2016) An essay response to a developing area of workplace law and avenues for its progression – demonstrating an understanding of the ways law develops over time and the reasons behind such change.
Graduate School of Business & Law
BUSM4506: Assessment #3
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Graduate School of Business & Law
Master of Human Resource Management
BUSM4506 – Employment Law ? Assessment #3 – Essay
Due midnight Tuesday 18 October 2016 via turnitin
1 Background
Assessment #3 is a chance for you to delve deeper into a specific topic we have covered during
the course that may have captured your interest. Listed below are some suggested topics, but if
there is another topic again which you would like to explore, please submit your proposed topic
and question no later than Wednesday 28
September 2016.
There is an expectation that you will research widely for this essay and in so doing develop your
own view on the topic. The essay is exploratory in nature ? and you will be assessed both on your
ability to source and synthesise key reference material, and on your ability to develop an argument
for or against future developments within the specific area of law.
2 Suggested Topics
The list below provides examples of employment related laws that are developing now, or are likely
to develop further in the near future. You may choose one of these topics, or devise your own.
Long Service Leave
Is it possible that long service leave will be harmonised across each of the states and territories
within Australia? What process would need to be worked through in order to harmonise the
legislation and what would the most difficult changes likely be? Finally, is there an argument that
long service leave is no longer relevant and should be replaced with an alternative entitlement to
better match current work practises?
Paid Parental Leave
How does Australia?s paid parental leave scheme compare to other jurisdictions? On what
grounds should there be an expansion of the paid parental leave scheme? Why did Prime Minister
Abbott fail to introduce, let alone pass, legislation on an expanded parental leave scheme –
despite it being a key election policy in the last election?
Mental wellbeing
What are the obligations of employers for managing psychological hazards within the workplace or
promoting mental wellbeing? What are the most common psychological hazards and what is the
best way for an employer to manage such hazards within the workplace?
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BUSM4506: Assessment #3
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Unions
The Trade Union Royal Commission made adverse findings relating to a number of union officials
? with a large portion relating to misuse of union funds. As unions rely on membership fees, what
obligations should there be for how such membership fees are used? How might the union
movement change in response to the Royal Commission findings and is there a better union model
that reflects the changing workplace and workforce?
Immigration
Australia has certain restrictions in place for visa holders, including tourist and student visas.
Australia also has a skills based stream of visas called 457 visas which enable businesses to
sponsor workers to come into Australia to perform specific roles which are recognised as indemand.
There are significant obligations on employers to ensure that employees have requisite
work rights to be employed in Australia, and that they comply with visa requirements and
restrictions. Despite this, there are often headlines about exploitation of overseas workers in
Australia. A recent example is the alleged underpayment of many 7 Eleven employees, which has
been complicated by the fact that many of these workers have also allegedly been working in
breach of their visa restrictions (for example employees on student visas working more than 20
hours per week). How should the government respond to these recent issues? Are additional
restrictions warranted? Should there be more focus on enforcement measures? Is the issue
specific to visa holders, or is the problem more widespread? Or put another way, is the
exploitation of visa holders more likely than the exploitation of local workers? Would a change in
the law assist in this regard?
3 Instructions and assessment
Your essay should be no more than 3000 words (excluding your reference list).
It should be double spaced and all referencing should be in line with RMIT?s in-text referencing
approach ? more information on referencing can be located via:
https://emedia.rmit.edu.au/learninglab/content/referencing
Assessment #3 is worth 40% of your overall mark, and will be assessed as follows:
5 marks Consistent and correct use of legal terminology, grammar
and spelling.
10 marks Thoroughness of research and the quality of synthesis of
materials and information relevant to the topic.
25 marks Clear articulation of issues; a well-structured discussion and
presentation of arguments; critical assessment of legal
issues and law reform.
Assessment #3 is due midnight Tuesday 18 October 2016 via turnitin.
Graduate School of Business & Law
BUSM4506: Assessment #3
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4 Plagiarism
In preparing your assignment you should read and draw on the work of other authors. However, in
writing (or orally presenting your assignment), you should take extreme care that you have:
? acknowledged words, data, diagrams, models, frameworks and/or ideas of others you
have quoted (i.e. directly copied), summarised, paraphrased, discussed or mentioned
in your assignment through the appropriate referencing methods, and
? provided a reference list of the publication details so your reader (or listener) can
locate the source if necessary. This includes material taken from Internet sites.
If you do not acknowledge the sources of your material, you may be accused of plagiarism
because you have passed off the work and ideas of another person without appropriate
referencing, as if they were your own.
RMIT University treats plagiarism as a very serious offence constituting misconduct. The University
Regulation 6.1.1 on Student Discipline states: ?A student will have committed academic misconduct
if the student cheats or attempts to cheat by . . . plagiarising or otherwise submitting the work of
another person as the student?s own work?.
Plagiarism can mean any of the following:
? Direct copying of phrases and/or passages without a reference and/or quotation marks.
? Paraphrasing another writer?s work in your written work without citing the reference.
? Making a direct reference to an author/authors you have not read although you may have
read about them. (You should reference the secondary source you have actually read
rather than referencing the original that you have not read).
? Copying another student?s work, in part or in whole.
? Writing your work in conjunction with other students without prior permission. (This does
not mean you should not meet with other students initially to discuss the essay topic
and/or analyse the question).
? Submitting written work that has already been submitted for assessment in another
course.
The possible penalties for plagiarism under RMIT regulations include:
? recording of a failure for the assignment or course;
? cancelling of any or all results;
? suspension from the program;
? expulsion from the program.
Examples of plagiarism include:
? Copying sentences or paragraphs word-for-word from one or more sources, whether
published or unpublished, which could include but is not limited to books, journals,
reports, theses, websites, conference papers, course notes, etc. without proper citation;
? Closely paraphrasing sentences, paragraphs, ideas or themes without proper citation;
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BUSM4506: Assessment #3
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? Piecing together text from one or more sources and adding only linking sentences;
? Copying or submitting whole or parts of computer files without acknowledging their
source;
? Copying designs or works of art and submitting them as your original work;
? Copying a whole or any part of another student’s work; and
? Submitting work as your own that someone else has done for you;
? Enabling Plagiarism: the act of assisting or allowing another person to plagiarise or to
copy your own work.
