The Conciliation Step of the Unfair Dismissal Process in South Australia

2011

ILR Review

In many countries the arbitration of dismissal disputes by public tribunals and state agencies is regarded as slow and expensive. Some common law countries, including the United States and Australia, are privatizing dispute resolution on the premise that this is more efficient than using statutory channels, and it is thus perceived as a better method of settling disputes. Previous advances in statutory law regarding the arbitration of dismissal disputes have been either rescinded or circumvented, sometimes with dramatic political consequences. Little is known, however, about the extent to which statutory law induces inefficiency and redistribution. The author uses settlement and arbitration cost information derived from both Australian courts and survey research for the period 2001-2008 to estimate the contract zone of average settlements, that is, the legal, stigmatic and uncertainty costs saved by averting arbitration. He finds that dispute resolution under statutory law is not as wasteful as it initially seems, nor are substantial resources redistributed from business owners to labor suppliers. particularly indebted to Robert Breunig for expert advice on the sensitivity analysis section.Various data appendices with arbitration cases, award distributions, GAUSS procedures, basic computations and simulation results are available upon request by

Section: Net Dissipative Costsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dismissal Disputes and the Incentives to Bargain: Estimates of the Contract Zone

2011

ILR Review

“…Other researchers have examined the records of courts and industrial tribunals. Based on the Australian Industrial Relations Commission's conciliation and arbitration records, Hagglund and Provis (2005) and Chelliah and D'Netto (2006) provide estimates of settlement payments and compensation/damage awards. While very valuable, these estimates only give the pure transfer dimensions of firing costs, which is too narrow a metric for use in policy research.…”

Section: Case Studies and Court Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring firing costs: The case for direct methods

International Labour Review

2010

Abstract. Firing costs, together with the legislative and regulatory frameworks governing employment relations, are often blamed for poor labour market outcomes. Yet, research on the economic impacts of these costs is inconclusive. There has been much focus on functional assumptions and the significance of parameters, but very little on the quality and precision of the cost measures upon which most results hinge. Reviewing the indirect and direct measurement methods commonly used, the author argues that direct quantitative methods, rarely used in research, are much needed to complement more popular indirect measures. A recent survey experiment conducted in Australia illustrates this point.

“…D'autres chercheurs ont examiné les dossiers des tribunaux ordinaires et des juridictions spécialisées en matière de travail. Ils ont pu ainsi procéder à des estimations des transactions extrajudiciaires et des ordonnances de dédommagement rendues par les tribunaux d'arbitrage australiens, en se fondant sur les données de la Australian Industrial Relations Commission, en matière de conciliation et d'arbitrage (Hagglund et Provis, 2005;Chelliah et D'Netto, 2006). Bien que très précieuses, ces estimations ne donnent des indications que sur le seul aspect «paiement de transfert» des coûts de licenciement, soit une mesure trop restrictive pour une recherche sur les politiques globales en cette matière.…”

Section: Etudes De Cas Et Données Judiciairesunclassified

Mesurer les coǔts de licenciement: de l'intérět des méthodes directes

2010

Revue Int du Travail

Résumé. Les coǔts de licenciement, ainsi que l'appareil législatif et réglementaire régissant les relations professionnelles, sont souvent blǎmés pour les mauvaises performances du marché du travail. Toutefois, les études théoriques et économétriques sur l'impact économique de ces coǔts ne sont pas concluantes. Par le passé, on s'est surtout intéressé aux hypothèses fonctionnelles et à l'incidence des divers paramètres, mais on a très peu analysé la qualité et la précision des méthodes de mesure de ces coǔts, dont dépendent pourtant la plupart des résultats en cette matière. L'auteur examine les méthodes de mesure directes et indirectes couramment utilisées en ce domaine, et soutient qu'il est essentiel d'employer les méthodes quantitatives directes, rarement utilisées par les chercheurs, pour compléter les méthodes de mesure indirectes auxquelles on a généralement recours. Ce point est illustré par les résultats d'un sondage expérimental récemment mené en Australie.