The Department of Labour’s Approach to Decision-Making
The Department has a number of options available to ensure statutory compliance. However, the role of the Department is to promote fair practices and resilient workplaces and so we will generally use the minimum enforcement necessary to obtain compliance with the relevant legislation.
Compliance is a broad concept that encompasses the following approaches:
- providing information to support voluntary compliance
- direct consultation with business
- proactive inspections and auditing
- maintaining relationships with umbrella groups, such as industry associations to ensure sustained compliance
- investigation of complaints
- enforcement of legislation.
The labour inspector will generally encourage voluntary compliance by raising awareness of legal obligations. This may include seeking a commitment in writing from an employer to meet the required standards. This agreement is called an “enforceable undertaking”. If the employer does not agree to enter into such an undertaking the labour inspector may issue an improvement notice that outlines the steps required for the employer to comply and timeframes for meeting the terms of the notice. If non-compliance is of a serious nature, such as when the employer has a record of similar non-compliance, is obstructive or unwilling to change, the labour inspector is more likely to use a firmer sanction or seek penalties.
Our response to non-compliance will take into account factors such as the:
- history of non-compliance
- nature of the problem
- degree of harm arising
- level of cooperation by the parties.
