Wage thieving employers to face jail, heavy fines under new Australian laws

CANBERRA - Employers who are caught deliberately underpaying workers will face jail time and multi-million dollar fines under new laws proposed by the Australian government.

Minister for Workplace Relations Tony Burke told Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Sunday that he will introduce legislation for the industrial relations changes to Parliament on Monday.

Under the proposed laws, the maximum criminal penalty for employers who are found to have intentionally engaged in wage theft will be increased to a 10-year imprisonment and fines worth up to 7.8 million Australian dollars (5.03 million U.S. dollars), or three times the amount that was underpaid if that figure exceeds the maximum fine.

Burke told the ABC the legislation would close a "loophole" and that he was surprised by backlash from business and employer groups.

"If you intentionally, as a worker, take money from the till, it is a criminal offence and it should be. But if the employer intentionally withholds money from your pay, it's not a criminal offense," he said.

"That's a simple loophole, it should be logically simple to close - I'm surprised it's even been controversial. The objective here is not to send people to jail. The objective is to make sure people are paid properly."

A PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) analysis published in February estimated that Australians are collectively underpaid by 1.35 billion Australian dollars (870.7 million dollars) every year.

A separate report published by the Migrant Worker Center in September 2022 found that 64.8 percent of workers in Australia on temporary visas - including international students - experienced wage theft. - XINHUA