legal compliance for employers

Are you sure that all of your workers have current visas and have the appropriate work rights?

The Migration Act (1958) has harsh penalties for those who break the law. Breaches include:

1. Allowing, or facilitating someone to work when they don't have a visa.

2. Allowing or facilititing someone to work in breach of the work conditions on their visa.

3. Exploiting a visa holder, or allowing them to be exploited.

4. Breaching your obligations as a employment sponsor.

In the worst cases these breaches can lead to up to five years of imprisonment and very high financial penalties. They can also mean that your business can no longer sponsor overses skilled  wokers. Business partners, company managers and directors can all be prosecuted, even if they were not directly involved in the breach.

It is not enough to rely on the word of another person, for example, a worker showing you a copy of their visa, or a labour hire company telling you that they have checked the work rights of a worker. If a worker's visa expires or is cancelled and they don't tell you, then you are liable. You have to make reasonable enquiries to ensure that you remain compliant.

The good news is that it is not too difficult to make those enquiries, but you need to have a system in place.

GSCM offers a service where we can regularly check the visa status and work rights of your overseas workers. We can make those checks and give you a monthly report. This service gives you peace of mind and protects you from breaches, letting you get on with running your business.

To find out more, contact Daniel on 0478 401 464 or daniel@gscm.com.au.