Labor’s industrial relations reforms have kicked in, with employers listing jobs below minimum wage facing $16,500 fines

Employers offering dodgy pay rates in their job advertisements now face fines of up to $16,500, thanks to the latest industrial relations update included in the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill.

As of Saturday, January 7, employers are prohibited from listing pay rates that breach the Fair Work Act, or a relevant fair work instrument, like an award rate or enterprise bargaining agreement.

Listing pay rates that undercut those benchmarks is now considered a contravention of the act, with the Federal Court free to hand down punishments of up to 60 penalty units.

Not only do offending employers face new rules, but they also face new fines: the cost of a single penalty unit jumped from $222 to $275 on January 1, meaning those who breach the pay rate rules could face fines totalling $16,500.

Exemptions exist for piece work, where pay is determined by the amount of work completed, not by hours worked alone. However, job ads must include any periodic pay rate a pieceworker is entitled to.

The legislation states employers are exempt from those provisions if they can provide a “reasonable excuse”, but no examples are given.

The new rules were designed to keep employers from listing jobs with pay rates below the minimum wage, which Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Tony Burke says can harm jobseekers who may be entering the Australian workforce for the first time.

“These ads often target and exploit vulnerable workers, including migrant and linguistically diverse workers,” Burke said ahead of the bill’s passage.

The job ad crackdown arrives nine months after the Senate Standing Committee on Economics handed down a withering report on the state of underpayment and non-payment in Australia.

Various inquiries, “alongside an increasing evidence base and plethora of media investigations, suggest that non-compliance with Australia’s minimum employment laws has become pervasive, as well as ‘endemic’ in certain sectors,” the report found.

The report suggested it become an offence for employers to list job ads with pay rates below the minimum wage — a recommendation made concrete by the new legislation.

A major year for workplace reforms

The job ad crackdown is the new first Secure Jobs, Better Pay measure to come into effect in 2023, with legislative overhauls scheduled to continue through to December.

The abolition of the Australian Building and Construction Commission will be finalised on February 6, with its powers already vested with the Fair Work Ombudsman.

From March 6, sexual harassment in the workplace will be expressly prohibited by the Fair Work Act.

Where an employer and an employee cannot resolve a relevant dispute through conciliation or mediation, the Fair Work Commission will be empowered to settle the dispute and hand down orders, including for compensation to be made.

March 6 will also see the establishment of two expert panels on the Fair Work Commission, focusing on pay equity and the community sector, respectively.

A major tranche of updates will materialise on June 6, marking six months after the bill secured royal assent.

The bulk of the bill’s enterprise bargaining reforms will come into play on that date, but the expansion of the multi-employer bargaining system will be joined by other significant developments.

From June 6, the Fair Work Commission will be empowered to step into disputes between employers and workers seeking an extension to their unpaid parental leave allowance.

This means the FWC will have the tools of conciliation, mediation or mandatory arbitration at its disposal when those discussions reach a deadlock.

Similarly, the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill expands how workers can request flexible working arrangements from their employers, altering their hours, locations, and patterns of work.

From June 6, workers who are pregnant, and those experiencing family violence can file flexible work requests.

Again, the FWC will soon have the power to explore conciliation, mediation or mandatory arbitration should those employer-employee discussions come to a standstill.

The Registered Organisations Commission will also dissolve on that date, with its powers reverting to the FWC.

July 1 will see the official formation of the National Construction Industry Forum, providing advice to the federal government on issues of workplace relations, safety, gender equity, and productivity in the sector.

The turn of the new financial year will also boost the maximum amount awarded in small claims court to employers chasing unpaid entitlements from their employer.

From July 1, the maximum amount that can be rewarded will jump from $20,000 to $100,000, significantly expanding the scope of the small claims process for workers who believe they’ve been dudded by their boss.

Limits to the length of fixed-term contracts are set to come into play on December 6, with the FWC again set to intervene in matters where relevant parties cannot agree at the workplace level.

Under the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill, fixed-term contracts in the same role are capped to the shortest of two years or two consecutive contracts.

The new rules stipulate a simple fix for flawed fixed contract terms: workers will simply be classified as permanent employees.

While a full slate of reforms is set for 2023, other measures in the hard-bargained bill came into play shortly after its passage.

A host of reforms, including the outlawing of pay secrecy clauses, the protection of breastfeeding, gender identity, and intersex status under the Fair Work Act, and the inclusion of job security and gender equality under the Act came into play last month.

Employers looking for more information can access the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations here, with a fact sheet for small businesses available here.