Protecting vulnerable workers from exploitation through legislative reform

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Protecting vulnerable workers from exploitation through legislative reform

RMIT law academic, Distinguished Professor Anthony Forsyth, chaired a Victorian Government inquiry into labour hire and insecure work, resulting in new laws to protect vulnerable workers.

Key points

Forsyth chaired the Victorian Government Inquiry into the Labour Hire Industry and Insecure Work through a research partnership between RMIT and the State Government.
The final report to the Premier exposed widespread non-compliance with workplace and other laws by labour hire contractors, particularly in the horticulture, meat processing and cleaning industries.
The research led directly to new legislation being introduced to protect vulnerable workers from exploitation and improve the transparency and integrity of the labour hire industry.

Research activities and outputs

Forsyth chaired the Victorian Government Inquiry into the Labour Hire Industry and Insecure Work in 2015-16.

The inquiry investigated exploitation of vulnerable workers by the contractors who employ them as seasonal workers in fresh food supply chains, meat and poultry processing plants, cleaning operations and other industries.

Public hearings were held across the state and received more than 700 submissions from labour hire companies, unions, business and community groups, individual workers and experts. Evidence of exploitation included:

workers being paid below award minimum wages,
unsafe working conditions and dangerous transportation to and from work sites,
non-payment of superannuation,
avoidance of tax obligations, and
substandard accommodation linked to the provision of work.

In 2016, the final report co-authored by Forsyth and Industrial Relations Victoria was published.

The report included statistical analysis and research into overseas examples of successful regulation, leading to a total of 35 recommendations for reform.

The new laws improved protections for seasonal workers in fresh food supply chains, meat and poultry processing plants, cleaning operations and other industries.

The new laws improved protections for seasonal workers in fresh food supply chains, meat and poultry processing plants, cleaning operations and other industries.

Research outcomes and impact

Forsyth’s recommendations were implemented through the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2018 (VIC). This included introducing the Labour Hire Licensing Authority that was established to police compliance across the sector with investigatory powers, backed up by significant penalties.

Labour hire providers must now show they operate a legitimate business, can pay minimum award wages and comply with superannuation, safety and accommodation requirements.

Forsyth said the new legislation was a positive step in the fight against workplace exploitation in Victoria and a model for national reform.

“It’s primarily about protecting vulnerable workers from exploitation, but it will also help to protect legitimate labour hire businesses from being undercut by rogue operators, so it’s levelling the playing field,” he said.

“The issues were evident in many workplaces, but there was no way of policing these labour hire providers to see if they were legitimate businesses, so they were just getting away with it,” Forsyth, said.

“It’s been a unique opportunity as an academic to contribute research and expertise to directly shape what an effective licensing scheme should look like,” he says.

“More broadly, it‘s an example of how academic expertise can have a real impact in guiding policy development to solve contemporary social and economic problems.”

Forsyth worked closely with the Victorian Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources on the 12-month inquiry.

I’m very grateful to the team in Industrial Relations Victoria who provided invaluable support to the inquiry”, he said. “The resulting legislation will help ensure that only reputable labour hire providers can operate in this sector – an important new framework of protection for Victorian workers.

Distinguished Professsor Anthony Forsyth

Distinguished Professsor Anthony Forsyth

Further outcomes following the Inquiry

In June 2021, the Victorian Government introduced the Occupational Health and Safety and Other Legislation Amendment Bill into State Parliament. This implemented several other recommendations of Forsyth’s Inquiry, aimed at ensuring that labour hire workers placed at the work-site of a host business have the same workplace health and safety rights as direct employees of the host under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic).

The Bill was passed by State Parliament in September 2021, becoming the Occupational Health and Safety and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2021 (Vic).

Following the final report for the Inquiry, Forsyth published two academic journal articles based on the research initially undertaken for the Inquiry:

‘The Victorian Inquiry into Labour Hire and Insecure Work: Addressing Worker Exploitation in Complex Business Structures’ (2017) 6:3 E-Journal of International and Comparative Labour Studies 1-33
‘Regulating Australia’s “Gangmasters” through Labour Hire Licensing’ (2019) 47:3 Federal Law Review 469.

He also delivered 13 seminars/conference presentations on the Inquiry’s findings and recommendations, to those including the UK Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority and the Federal Migrant Workers Taskforce.

Key contact

Distinguished Professor Anthony Forsyth

Graduate School of Business and Law | College of Business and Law

SDGs

Labour hire industry labour law employment law workplace regulation reform vulnerable workers exploitation Labour Hire Licensing Act

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