Labour hire: Farms face $500,000 fines for using unlicensed companies

FARMS and businesses using unlicensed labour-hire providers will face maximum fines of more than $500,000 under Victoria’s first Labour Hire Licensing Scheme starting today.

Labour-hire providers will have six months to obtain a licence which aims to protect fruit pickers and meat workers from exploitation. Picture: Adam Head

FARMS and businesses using unlicensed labour-hire providers will face maximum fines of more than $500,000 under Victoria’s first Labour Hire Licensing Scheme starting today.

Labour-hire providers will have six months to obtain a licence under the scheme, which aims to protect fruit pickers and meat workers from exploitation.

Contractors will be required to pass a “fit and proper person test” and show compliance with workplace laws, labour hire laws and minimum accommodation standards to get the licence.

They will also need to report annually on their activities.

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Victorian Industrial Relations Minister Tim Pallas said the State Government was “cracking down on dodgy operators who think there’s such a thing as first and second-class workers”.

“This is about protecting the rights of some of Victoria’s most vital and vulnerable workers — people who pick our fruit, process our meat and clean our stockroom floors,” he said.

The new scheme follows an independent inquiry that revealed widespread abuse, underpayment and exploitation in the sector.

Key recommendations made by the inquiry, and accepted by the Government, included setting up the licensing scheme to regulate labour-hire operators, advocating for a national licensing scheme and developing a voluntary code of conduct for the industry.

The final report outlining the recommendations was tabled in Parliament in October 2016.

A public information campaign to inform both contractors and the businesses that use labour-hire workers begins today.

Labour Hire Authority Commissioner Steve Dargavel has encouraged anyone in the industry to contact the authority for “guidance through the licensing process”.

Just last week, a labour-hire company was ordered to pay more than $50,000 to migrant tomato pickers at a farm near Shepparton after it failed to correctly pay them.

Fair Work found Agri-Labour Australia, which is based in Brisbane, to be paying some workers a group piecework rate based on the amount a team picked, despite agreements stating workers must be paid based on individual productivity.

The company also admitted no records were kept of actual hours worked and that it incorrectly deducted money from wages for wet weather gear.

Fair Work began a separate inquiry in 2013, which recovered $1,022,698 for 2503 employees in horticulture and viticulture industries.