IR

Labor leader Kevin Rudd faces a new assault over workplace flexibility in the wake of revelations his wife's company employs all her 800 staff under individual contracts and profited from finding jobs for workers to be employed under AWAs.

After agreeing to sell the domestic arm of her multi-million-dollar business to avoid claims of conflict of interest, Therese Rein revealed yesterday that her company did not use awards to pay her staff, preferring the flexibility of common-law agreements.

Although Mr Rudd has stressed that his wife's company never employed staff under Australian Workplace Agreements, it was revealed yesterday that the company had matched vacancies with jobseekers who were in some cases offered jobs under AWAs, which the Opposition Leader would ban if he is elected prime minister.

A COMPANY owned by Kevin Rudd's wife put workers on individual contracts that stripped them of key award conditions.

A common law contract, obtained by the Herald Sun, removed penalty rates, overtime and allowances for an extra 45c an hour.

Workplace Minister Joe Hockey said the contracts could be illegal and he would investigate the matter further.

"For a common law contract to remove conditions from an award would be unlawful but I need to get more information," he said today.

"There seems to be a lot of questions that need to be asked about this matter."

PRIME Minister John Howard today denied a new "fairness test" for workers was a backdown ahead of this year's federal election, calling it "fine-tuning" instead.

Mr Howard will outline formal assurances that workers earning up to $75,000 per year who trade away penalty rates, shift allowances, holiday pay or overtime in AWAs will not be worse off.

Due to come into force next Monday night, the new test will apply to all Australian Workplace Agreements and collective agreements submitted to the renamed Workplace Authority.

"Now that compensation (for trading away allowances) could take monetary form ... it might take the form in some cases of people offered access to a car park," Mr Howard said on Southern Cross radio.