Bosses who deliberately underpay workers could be jailed for up to 10 years and fined up to $1.65 million in the new year, while companies risk fines of more than $8 million.
Landmark wage theft laws that come into effect on January 1 will make intentional underpayment of workers a crime across the nation.
Workplace Minister Murray Watt said the laws were aimed at organisations deliberately committing the offence, and would not apply to honest mistakes or employers who inadvertently underpaid workers.
Workplace Minister Murray Watt says the laws will target organisations deliberately underpaying workers.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“Workers who steal from their boss can already be charged with theft. It should be no different for bosses who deliberately steal their workers’ wages,” Watt said in a statement.
The workplace reform will likely become a key government pitch to workers as the major parties prepare for a federal election in the first half of the new year.
Investigations by this masthead in recent years have exposed endemic underpayment of workers in the franchising industry, including 7-Eleven, Caltex, Domino’s Pizza, Pizza Hut, and Retail Food Group. In 2020, 7-Eleven paid back $173 million to more than 4000 workers.
The hospitality sector has also been dogged with issues, with high-end restaurants owned by Neil Perry’s Rockpool Dining Group and celebrity chef George Calombaris among those that have been embroiled in underpayment scandals.
Think tank The McKell Institute last year estimated Australian workers were being underpaid nearly $850 million a year.
Australian Council of Trade Unions assistant secretary Joseph Mitchell described the laws as a major win for unions and workers.
“This isn’t a regime for honest mistakes, this is a regime for deliberate, systemic underpayments,” he said.
“There’s been a lot of notice of these laws coming in and so employers should be cleaning up their act and should be deterred from underpaying their workers from now.”
But Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar raised concerns the law’s introduction would further complicate Australia’s industrial relations system.
“We feel these new laws are an overreach and will add yet another layer of complex and burdensome regulation on business, especially small business,” he said.
“We will be interested to see how many prosecutions will be made under these changes as employers want to do the right thing but are hampered with complex regulations.”
Workers will be able to take wage theft claims to their union, which would then make a case with the Fair Work Ombudsman. If the case is strong, it can then be referred to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
Revised fuel efficiency standards, which the Albanese government claims will save drivers $1000 in fuel a year, also come into effect on January 1. The mandatory pollution caps will apply only to new cars and are designed to encourage companies to sell more efficient petrol cars or electric vehicles.
Welfare payments will also be boosted for those receiving youth, student and carer support.
Single recipients of the youth allowance with dependant children will receive an increase of $30.60 a fortnight, while partnered youth allowance recipients without dependant children will pocket $24.30 more. Carer allowance payments will rise by $5.80 a fortnight.
About 340,000 aged care workers will also receive some cost-of-living relief as a result of the government’s pledge to spend an extra $3.8 billion on their wages over four years starts.
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