The Fair Work Ombudsman has called on job websites to do better as the office continues its crackdown on illegal job advertisements which has resulted in $89,000 in penalties imposed thus far.
Fair Work Inspectors have already issued 151 Infringement Notices (fines) to employers since March 2023 when the FWO was given the power to issue fines on employers who post job ads offering illegally low rates of pay.
Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said the regulator would communicate to major online job websites that both the FWO and the public expect them to play their part in stamping out unlawful ads and that they must cooperate with the FWO’s compliance activities.
“Dodgy job ads are unlawful, and some of them are scams, we want to stop dodgy ads before they appear,” Booth said. “We are calling on all job websites to maximise awareness to employers, recruiters and the public about the importance of advertising legal minimum wages.
“We are also requesting job websites make it easier for employers to put legal wage rates in their ads, such as by allowing advertising employers to enter their own specific wage figures rather than having preset ranges,” Booth added. “Employers should do the right thing when recruiting their workforce – and those who break the law are paying the price.”
Fair Work Inspectors have been routinely searching public job advertisement websites and contacting employers both to issue Infringement Notices and provide education. The FWO is looking at ways to increase its capabilities to undertake wider-scale surveillance of job ads and to detect non-compliant job ads through the use of enhanced detection tools.
Booth has reiterated the regulator’s stance in taking dodgy job ads seriously, including because they often deliberately targeted vulnerable people, such as migrants.
“We want to stop exploitation at the earliest moment – and trying to take advantage of migrant workers who may be desperate for income or unaware of their rights is appalling,” she said.
Current laws ban employers from advertising pay rates that fail to meet the minimum rates required by the Fair Work Act or an industrial instrument, such as a modern award, enterprise agreement, workplace determination or Fair Work Commission order.
The FWO cited one case of an advertisement for a casual food and beverage attendant at a café with a pay rate as low as $13.36 per hour. When a Fair Work Inspector contacted the employer about the ad, the employer claimed the lowest range was “close” to the introductory rate for someone younger than 17 and they should “only receive a warning”. The inspector countered that employers engaging staff to conduct recruitment activities are responsible to make sure those staff are educated as to the legal minimum rates of pay, and if a business is seeking junior employees, they need to make that clear in their ads. The business ended up paying a fine of $1375 and was given further education.
