During 2023-24, Fair Work has announced it will will prioritise underpayments and workplace protections in a number of sectors.
The regulator will prioritise underpayments and workplace protections in the following sectors:
- agriculture
- building and construction
- care
- fast food, restaurants and cafés
- large corporates and universities.
Fair Work will continue to focus on matters that:
- are of significant public interest
- demonstrate a blatant disregard for the law
- are of significant scale, impact on workers or the community, or
- can provide guidance on the application of the law.
The Fair Work Ombudsman’s purpose is to promote harmonious, productive, cooperative and compliant workplace relations in Australia. Their functions include:
- providing education, advice and assistance
- promoting and monitoring compliance with workplace laws
- investigating breaches of the law
- taking appropriate enforcement action.
They perform these functions in a variety of ways, including:
- undertaking targeted proactive compliance and education work
- responding to requests for assistance, emerging issues reported through the media (or other external sources) and self-reported non-compliance
- implementing new funding measures.
There is an element of discretion in how the regulator allocates resources to undertake proactive and responsive activities. The annual regulatory priorities provide a framework through which they will prioritise resource allocation.
