Attorney-General Christian Porter is unveiling an overhaul of Australia’s industrial laws.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
The most serious cases of wage theft,such as the scandals revealed at 7-Eleven franchisees in 2015,will trigger criminal penalties of up to four years in jail and $5.5 million fines as the government cracks down on underpayment to help honest businesses.
Unions welcomed the government’s move to raise penalties for underpayment but the new perma-flexi category got a cautious response from the Australian Council of Trade Unions,which said it would oppose anything that took workers backwards.
Attorney-General Christian Porter will also announce a free pay advice service for small businesses on Tuesday,with firms to be shielded from prosecution if the advice turns out to be wrong,to help employers take on staff without fear of underpayment claims.
Mr Porter said the new criminal offence was intended to capture the worst cases of dishonest and systematic underpayment,not accidental errors by businesses baffled by complex pay rules.
"The reason why this is so important is not just because we want workers to be paid properly... but for the overwhelming majority of businesses that do the right thing and pay their people properly,they get undercut by any competitor who doesn’t pay their people properly,"Mr Porter said.
But Mr Porter plans to outsource some of the most contentious parts of his industrial agenda to the Fair Work Commission,which will be asked to simplify pay rules in conjunction with unions and business.