Further protections for vulnerable workers

On 5 September 2017, the Commonwealth Parliament passed into law the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Vulnerable Workers) Bill 2017 (Bill). The purpose of the Bill, as the name suggests, is to protect vulnerable workers (such as low paid and workers on visas) from systemic non observance of those workers' rights and entitlements under the Fair Work Act. The key changes to the law by the Bill include:

1. Increasing the current maximum penalty unity for individuals and corporations who knowingly contravene the law by a factor of 10;
2. Tripling the maximum penalty for false or misleading records;
3. Double the maximum penalty for not keeping accurate pay, leave etc records for employees; and