As we head into the new year, businesses should be aware of the most recent legislative changes that will have an impact on their operations.
A number of proposed changes under the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023 have now been passed by both houses of Parliament. Below is a summary of the key changes that are most relevant to the automotive industry.
Wage theft
Wage theft will now be a criminal offence, set to commence in January 2025. This is to target circumstances where employers deliberately underpay workers and is not intended to affect employers who make honest errors through their payroll. The maximum penalties for wage theft will be:
- 10 years imprisonment for individuals;
- $7.825 million for body corporates (or three times the amount that was underpaid).
The Fair Work Ombudsman will prepare a “voluntary small business wage compliance code” which, if complied with, will result in a small business not being referred to for criminal prosecution in the event they fail to pay a required amount to an employee.
Industrial Manslaughter
From July 2024, industrial manslaughter will become a criminal offence under the federal Work Health and Safety legislation. It will apply in circumstances where a person conducting a business or undertaking (or an officer) breaches a health and safety duty by causing the death of an individual, and the person was reckless or negligent as to whether the conduct would cause the death of an individual.
The maximum penalty for this proposed offence will be:
- 25 years imprisonment for individuals;
- $18 million for body corporates.
Industrial manslaughter laws have also passed through both houses of the South Australian Parliament, which provides maximum penalties of 20 years for individuals and $18 million for body corporates.
There have been several other recent reforms to employment laws that businesses must comply with:
Limits on fixed-term contracts
As of 6 December 2023, new laws under the Fair Work Act 2009 apply to fixed-term contracts. Employers will be required to provide employees with a Fixed Term Contract Information Statement. These laws will apply to contracts entered into after this date and will restrict employers from employing someone on a contract that is for longer than 2 years, has more than one extension option or where the employee will be under consecutive contracts. These rules do not apply to casual employees and there are various exceptions such as a formal apprenticeship training arrangement, or hiring someone to replace an employee who is temporarily absent, such as on maternity leave.
Psychosocial hazards
New Work Health and Safety regulations will come into effect on 25 December 2023. Businesses now have a clearer positive obligation to manage psychosocial risks in the workplace. Psychosocial risks exist when there is a risk to a worker’s health and safety caused by a psychosocial hazard, which may result in psychological harm. These hazards can arise from the work environment, workplace interactions, how work is structured or managed and the plant at a workplace. Examples of this include giving employees excessive workloads, exposing employees to bullying and harassment, poor support from supervisors and poor environmental conditions, such as performing hazardous tasks. Businesses must implement control measures to manage these risks, such as providing bullying and harassment training and providing employees with adequate job descriptions, support, and training.
Duty to prevent sexual harassment
Since the start of December 2023, the Australian Human Rights Commission now has the power to monitor and assess compliance with the federal sex discrimination laws that were passed in 2022. These laws impose a positive obligation on employers to implement reasonable measures as much as possible to eliminate sex discrimination at work, sexual harassment or sex-based harassment in connection with work, and a workplace environment that is hostile on the grounds of sex. This duty can extend to the conduct of third parties in certain circumstances, such as customers, clients and suppliers. Measures include harassment training, creating a safe physical and online work environment, and implementing workplace policies which set expectations and detail how sexual harassment will be prevented, how to report issues and how complaints will be dealt with.
If you have any questions about how these new laws will apply to your business, or you would like to get prepared and sign up for our training sessions on these topics, please contact the WR team on wr@mtasant.com.au or on 8291 2000.
