The Andrews government in Victoria will introduce legislation whereby labour hire firm will require licensing.
This is the outcome of a review undertaken last year, as the government seeks to protect workers from rogue operators, who tend to rip-off workers through various means. Like underpaying them, withholding other entitlements, not providing a safe working environment, abusing visas and undermining the minimum standards of employment.
Under the new scheme worker protections are expected to be vastly improved, with a clamp down on dodgy operators. No doubt, there’ll be a keenly sought-after, healthy spike in worker confidence. A good result.
Worker mistreatment has been particularly rife in industries like primary producing, retail, and hospitality. Amongst others.
This industry overhaul, will involve:
- Setting up a licensing scheme and developing a code of conduct to regulate labour hire operators
- Making it unlawful for employers in regulated industries to use unlicensed labour hire firms
- Advocating for national licensing scheme for labour hire operators
- Increased OHS requirements and regulation of accommodation standards
- Amend the Equal Opportunity Act to ensure it applies to Labour Hire employees to prevent discrimination
Looks like the Victorian Government will also be advocating for a national scheme, and is pressing Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, to take action. We’ll keep you updated on that, as we learn more.
You can find further details of the changes, here.
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