Bosses who deliberately steal money from their employees' pay packets will face serious criminal penalties aimed at stamping out wage theft.
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But Attorney-General Christian Porter says employers who make genuine mistakes and fix them quickly will avoid a criminal record.
Mr Porter announced the release of a discussion paper looking for community feedback about wage theft at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia conference in Canberra on Thursday.
"These new criminal penalties should rightly apply only to the most serious types of offending where there is clear evidence of persistent or repeat offending, or offending on a significant scale," Mr Porter said.
"We recognise that the industrial relations system is complex and we need to ensure that any new penalty regime is fit for purpose and avoids any unintended consequences."
Unions welcomed the move but warned it would be merely window dressing unless the enforcement regime is addressed to ensure there is a simple way for employees to get their money back.
"The current system is so complex and expensive that many workers can't attempt to claim back stolen wages," ACTU secretary Sally McManus said in a statement.
Former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission boss Allan Fels earlier this month called for wage theft to be criminalised now.
"Wage theft is just as serious as consumer theft. The law and the penalties should be put on the same basis as consumer and competition law," Professor Fels said.
"In serious cases, there should be a possibility of a jail sentence."
The Morrison government believes the new laws must include significant jail terms and fines for the most serious offences.
A migrant worker task force found strong evidence of systematic and deliberate underpayment by some employers, which the government wants to address as a priority.
Mr Porter also issued a discussion paper on protecting pay deals for workers on new long-term projects for longer than four years.
Under the present Fair Work Act, enterprise agreements can only apply for a maximum of four years after approval.
Mr Porter, who took on the industrial relations portfolio after the May election, wants to approach issues on a case-by-case basis.
"One thing I think is very unhelpful in this area is to get an eminent person to go out and do an over-arching review and comeback with 172 recommendations," Mr Porter said.
Australian Associated Press
