Welcome to the Labour Hire Authority's May e-News 2020

The Labour Hire Authority continues to undertake compliance and enforcement activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. To promote the objectives of the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2018 (the Act), the Authority:

• monitors licensed labour hire providers’ compliance
• monitors hosts to ensure they only use licensed providers
• investigates complaints, information and intelligence that we receive
• investigates non-compliance with the Act including unlicensed providers
• engages in, promotes and coordinates the sharing of information with other government agencies and bodies.

Information campaign for labour hire workers

The Authority will soon conduct an information campaign for labour hire workers to make sure they are aware of the Authority’s Report a Problem function – where members of the community including labour hire providers, hosts and workers can report suspected non-compliance by labour hire providers for investigation.

Information received by the Authority helps our compliance and enforcement officers identify and investigate providers who may not be complying with their obligations.

Compliance with legal obligations

Compliance with existing workplace laws is a requirement to obtain and maintain a labour hire licence. To help providers and hosts follow existing Victorian and Commonwealth workplace laws during the COVID-19 pandemic and as restrictions gradually ease throughout the state, the May e-News also includes helpful links to WorkSafe Victoria, Safe Work Australia and the Fair Work Ombudsman information.

In response to the COVID-19 situation the Authority announced that it will not take enforcement action against a provider for providing labour hire services without a licence, or a host who enters into an arrangement with that provider, where a complete application is submitted to the Authority before midnight 30 June 2020 and there is no evidence of non-compliance.

The Authority reminds labour hire providers that applied for a licence after 29 October 2019 or are yet to submit an application, if they are noncompliant with other Victorian and Commonwealth legal obligations such as workplace and labour hire industry laws, they may face enforcement action for providing labour hire services without a licence.

Non-compliance with legal obligations may result in:

• conditions being placed on a licence
• a licence being suspended, varied or cancelled
• infringements and maximum penalties exceeding $120,000 for a natural person and $500,000 for a corporation.

The Authority will use its tools and strategies to affect behavioural change in providers and hosts to prevent the exploitation of labour hire workers and improve the integrity and transparency of the labour hire industry.