The Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023 proposes to amend the Fair Work Act 2009 to introduce key reforms including:
- A new definition of ‘casual employee’;
- A new avenue for some casual employees to choose to change to permanent employment;
- The introduction of the ‘same job, same pay principle’, intended to stop the use of labour hire workers who are being paid less than otherwise relevant enterprise agreement minimum rates, to do the same job;
- New powers for the Fair Work Commission relating to the regulation of the gig economy, permitting it to set minimum standards (much like the NES) for ‘employee-like’ workers;
- The introduction of a regime for gig economy workers to seek recourse for unfair termination/deactivation;
- New powers for the Fair Work Commission to deal with disputes notified by independent contractors regarding unfair terms in services agreements;
- A new Federal criminal offence for wage theft;
- Higher maximum penalties for employee underpayment; and
- An addition to the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 which will introduce a new offence of industrial manslaughter.
The Closing Loopholes Bill will now be debated in Parliament. Watch this space…
