Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt says AMP contracts are ‘outrageous abuse of power’

New contract details reveal AMP staff could be prevented from being unpaid office holders at their child’s sporting club without AMP’s prior written approval.

Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt has slammed AMP’s latest demand from its workers. Picture: Martin Ollman/NewsWire

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Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt has accused AMP of an “outrageous abuse of power” as fresh detail of the company’s controversial employment contracts emerged, revealing staff could be prevented from being unpaid office holders at local sporting clubs, childcare centres and churches without AMP’s written approval.

The emergence of the extraordinary restraint clause came after The Australian revealed AMP staff had been given one week to sign the contracts that enable their employer to carry out continuous video surveillance of them, including when working from home, allow the company to sell their personal information, and prevent workers seeking ­advice from a lawyer or ­accountant about the contracts without AMP’s permission.

The contract’s restraint clause, seen by The Australian, says AMP employees must not, without the company’s prior written approval, “take up any other appointment or position with any other corporation, organisation or business (whether paid or unpaid)”.

Workplace law expert Andrew Stewart said he had never seen such a clause in a contract and it was “completely unnecessary overreach” by AMP.

He said the clause prevents AMP workers getting involved in their child’s sporting club if it involves taking up a position without the company’s consent.

“If you get elected or sit on the management committee of an organisation that has nothing to do with AMP, and is not a competitor, you have to get their permission”, he said.

“You cannot get involved in a sporting club or a church or a childcare centre if it involves taking up a position with those bodies without AMP’s consent.“

He said if that was not the company’s intention then the clause should not be in the contract.

“It’s a little like the response they gave to surveillance,” he said. “They’re saying, “no, no, we’re not going to conduct surveillance at home, that’s not our intent”, but the wording of the contract clearly goes that far. It just looks like a contract full of ambit claims.

“We’re going to assert as much authority over just not your working life but your personal life as we feel can get away with in the contract and then say that’s not the intent to go that far.”

Senator Watt said the approach by AMP represented an “outrageous abuse of power from one of Australia’s biggest companies”.

“No Australian company, big or small, should expect employees to sign away basic workplace and privacy rights without an opportunity to consider them and seek advice,” he said. “This is the latest example of big businesses seeking to cut basic rights and conditions for their workers.”

Senator Watt said the AMP strategy was “a taste of things to come if Peter Dutton is elected”.

“He is already promising to cut the same rights that AMP is attempting here and he’ll carry out more of the cuts to pay and conditions that big business are demanding,” he said.

Finance Sector Union national assistant secretary Nicole McPherson said the restraint clause meant “if you want to coach your daughter’s netball team on the weekend (or) if you’re on your church or Rotary Club committee, you would need to get AMP’s prior written approval in order to be able to do that really important community engagement”.

“We think this is a really significant intrusion by AMP into people’s lives outside of work.”

An AMP spokesperson, who has denied workers will be under surveillance when working from home, said the company “actively encourages and supports its employees to engage in social and community activities, and the intention of this clause is to help ensure these activities can be accomm­odated alongside their work and does not give rise to a conflict of interest”.