DIAC issues 37 infringements worth more than $137,000 in 8 months

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Created on Wednesday, 21 March 2012 12:19

Written by Editorial staff

As migration agents are well aware, it is of vital importance that employers and sponsors who make the decision to hire foreign workers are prepared to meet the legislative requirements that relate to their conditions.

While the legal powers of workplace relations already extend to cover every individual employed in Australia, there are additional requirements that are applicable when sponsoring skilled labour from international sources.

For temporary overseas workers these obligations are codified in the Migration Legislation Amendment (Worker Protection) Act 2008, which is administered to by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).

As such, the DIAC has a number of sponsor monitoring officers that help to ensure that international employees are receiving the kind of treatment they deserve under law.

In addition, the department also has a dedicated team of 38 inspectors whose role it is to assess scenarios that relate to an employer's compliance with the work protection laws.

The vast majority of sponsors have shown that they are responsible and proactive when it comes to providing support and information to their international staff members - in many cases going beyond legislative requirements.

This practice makes sound business sense, as skilled workers who are happy with the actions of their employers have been shown to be more productive and flexible than those who feel they are being mistreated.

However, the DIAC does note that it has had to take action in a small percentage of cases where sponsors have not been acting in accordance with the worker protection laws - in most cases because they acted inadvertently and did not know they were doing wrong.

This highlights the importance of getting quality advice from a registered migration agent before acting - as relying on internal sources such as human resources officers who are not registered with the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority can have dire consequences.

Overall the DIAC has had to issue 188 warnings to sponsors and 75 sanctions to firms that have failed to comply over the course of this financial year.

In addition, the department says it has had to undertake legal action on infringements 37 times between July 1 2011 and February 29 2012 - with fines in excess of $186,000.

This just goes to show how serious it is to gain access to quality advice from an official source before acting, as not having knowledge that an activity is illegal is not an excuse in the eyes of the law.