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 Page 1 of 4 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? Graduate School of Business & Law BUSM4506: Assessment #3 Page 2 of 4 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 Page 3 of 4 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; Graduate School of Business & Law BUSM4506: Assessment #3 Page 4 of 4 ? 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 students 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.