Following a second group of fuel retail businesses becoming embroiled in an employment compliance scandal, the Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association (ACAPMA) has made a commitment to ensure all member businesses are fully aware of their obligations under Australian employment law.
“Paying employees in full accordance with Australian employment law is not an option – it is an absolute legal and moral requirement,” ACAPMA CEO Mark McKenzie said.
While it might previously have been argued that these problems were due to some businesses being unaware of the law, these latest revelations suggest there is an element in the fuel retail industry that is deliberately flouting Australian employment law for its own advantage.
“To say that these latest revelations are disappointing is an understatement,” Mr McKenzie said.
“The illegal actions of this latest group of businesses not only threatens the reputation of the brand they display – it is also damaging to the reputation of our industry as a whole and is likely to be distorting fuel retail market competition in Australia.”
Issues associated with employment law compliance in the fuel industry (and other industries) have seen the federal Government move to tighten federal employment laws, giving increased power to the Fair Work Ombudsmen. These laws will be introduced later this year and take effect from early 2017.
In the meantime, the federal Government has set up two multi-agency task forces to increase the ability of the Fair Work Ombudsman to detect businesses that are not complying with Australian employment law – particularly in the area of foreign worker employment.
The first of these is Taskforce Cadena. Set up by the Australian Government in June of this year, Taskforce Cadena is jointly led by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection and the Fair Work Ombudsman. It is working with other Australian Government bodies such as the Australian Taxation Office and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, as well as law enforcement agencies such as the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Border Force.
More recently, the Australian Government announced a second Task Force to address employment law breaches by businesses in all industries. The new Migrant Workers Taskforce was announced in early October 2016 and has been set up to explicitly target businesses taking advantage of foreign workers.
Led by former ACCC Chairman Alan Fels, the taskforce will work in partnership with Operation Cadena, as well as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the Fair Work Ombudsman and the Australian Securities and Investment Commission.
“Put simply, if there are businesses out there that think that they are going to get away with continued breaches of employment law then they are kidding themselves,” Mr McKenzie said.
“It is time for our industry to rid itself of these unscrupulous elements in our industry – they are doing damage to their employees, to the brands they display and to our industry as a whole.”
Any business owner that is genuinely unsure of whether they are operating in full compliance with all relevant provisions of Australian employment law can contact ACAPMA on 1300 160 270 for further information.
