Looking forward: Labour hire regulation and "same job, same pay"
Key dates
H2 2023: Second tranche of industrial law reforms to be introduced to Parliament.
What's changing?
The government proposes to legislate Same Job, Same Pay measures to apply to labour hire arrangements.
In simple terms, what is proposed is that labour hire providers ─ which is very broadly defined and includes internal corporate labour hire providers ─ will need to provide terms and conditions to their employees that are the same as directly engaged workers who are employed by the "host" employer.
In addition to the Same Job, Same Pay measures, a proposal has also been released for consultation to establish a national labour hire regulation scheme. The aim of this scheme would be to protect labour hire workers from exploitation and ensure that all labour hire providers must obtain and maintain a licence in accordance with certain conditions.
Similar schemes are already operating in Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory.
Background
One of the government's commitments in the lead-up to the 2022 Federal Election was to legislate to ensure that labour hire workers would be paid the same as directly engaged workers doing the same work. In other words, people doing the same job as someone else should get the same pay.
This was the Same Job, Same Pay proposal.
Actions
- Evaluate the proposed labour hire reforms and consider the systems and processes you will need to establish to comply with proposed legislation.