Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said her department would follow up on people dobbed in to the hotline to see if they had a valid reason for turning down work.
“You often hear,though,employers saying,‘Joe applied for a job. He was qualified for the job ... and they said no’,” she said. “In the event that they do not have a valid reason,they will be breached for that.”
However,Charles Cameron,the chief executive of the Recruitment,Consulting and Staffing Association,which represents the labour hire sector that takes on many job seekers,said most businesses were unlikely to use the hotline.
“[Firms] don’t want to pass judgment without a proper analysis of why they weren’t willing to work,they’d rather focus on people who are willing to work and provide them with that opportunity,” he said.
Peter Strong,the head of small business lobby group COSBOA,said employers he spoke to were also unlikely to use it.
“The only time you’d use it was if someone was abusive or really upset you,” he said. “They actually feel for the unemployed – they get annoyed by them coming in all the time,it becomes a nuisance,but they feel for them.”