Fair Work Targeting the Building & Construction Industry
As at 5 May 2013, Fair Work Building & Construction has recovered over $2 million in unpaid wages and entitlements from employers in the building and construction industry. For those who may not be aware, on 1 February 2013, the new Fair Work (Building Industry) Act 2012 came into effect (the “Act”). The object of the Act is to:
- ensure compliance with workplace relation laws;
- provide means of enforcing the rights and obligations;
- provide safeguards on the use of the enforcement and investigative powers; and
- improve the level of occupational health and safety, in the building industry. To assist with the investigations with respect to whether a particular company is compliant with the building laws of Australia, the Act has granted special powers to:
- Authorised investigators to perform site visits to investigate whether a company is compliant with the building laws of Australia by obtaining information from a site or forcing persons to produce documents and/or attend to answer questions; and
Federal Safety Officers to monitor compliance with the building laws of Australia so far as they relate to occupational health and safety to:
- inspect any work, material or machinery;
- take samples;
- interview any person; or
- inspect and make copies of any document that is on the premises or is assessable from a computer kept on the premises.
In light of the recent announcement made by Fair Work Building & Construction, it is clear they have commenced the targeted audits, site visits and assessment of complaints by employees and/or sub-contractors.
If you are an employer and are uncertain whether you have paid your employees and/or contractors in accordance with the Modern Award and/or the Fair Work Act and would like to find out more about same, feel free to contact us for a free consultation on (02) 9262 5495 or (03) 8899 7870; visit our Website; Like our Facebook Page; or join our Building and Construction Mailing List..
This article is not legal advice and should not be relied upon as legal advice. All articles found on this website are intended to provide informative information, nevertheless, in many instances legislation and case law has been simplified and/or paraphrased. If you would like personal legal advice based on your current circumstances, you should contact MurdockCheng Legal Practice for a free consultation.