Did you know that many businesses are unaware of the legal risks of hiring without the correct work rights in Australia? Recent legislation introduced last year; employers could face fines of up to $500,000 for hiring an unlawful worker.
Checking work right entitlements online, conducting regular audits, performing spot checks, and reviewing immigration reports are all effective ways to manage employee work rights and stay on track. However, we’ve developed an even better way to keep you in control of your workforce and ensure compliance with minimal effort and no manual processes.
Our innovative solution will help you:
- Reduce administrative tasks
- Save valuable time
- Stay compliant with legal requirements
- Manage upcoming visa applications efficiently
100,000 migrants have no work rights in Australia
What you need to know?
Australia is a diverse country, with foreign skilled workers playing a pivotal part temporarily and permanently to support various sectors including healthcare, construction, and tech. Employers have benefited from hiring talent from overseas to address skill gaps and find hard-to-find roles and diversifying their workforce. In exchange employers have an obligation to ensure all workers have the legal right to work in Australia. This involves records, meeting ongoing legal regulations and performing regular checks to verify their work rights.
The Migration Amendment (Strengthening Compliance) Bill 2023 focused on increased penalties for employers knowing or unknowingly allowing a non-citizen to work or the exploitation of workers. Employers can now face heavy fines or criminal proceedings for breaches meaning that ensuring your business has a robust compliance strategy and well executed processes is more important than ever.
What can employers do?
It’s recommended to undertake work right checks every 3 months. Businesses can access the data via VEVO (Visa Entitlement Verification Online) – Home Affairs online system to verify visa status, validity and work rights. A worker’s visa status can change, so it’s essential to keep doing regular compliance activities to ensure no issues or changes so the process is manual and time consuming.
How EPG Group can help?
While some platforms allow you to onboard employees compliantly at the hiring stage, our intuitive technology, Xemplo, goes even further, by providing automated work rights and VEVO checking throughout the entire duration of their employment. With Xemplo, you’ll receive monthly alerts and reports on employee work rights, visa conditions, expiries, and any changes.
Let us help you…
- Ensure all employees hold the correct visa and work rights
- Understand how to manage employer obligations
- Take no chances with visa expiries
- Avoid penalties and legal risks
Our managed compliance tool is just one of the tools we can offer to support your business. Why not chat with our team or book a demo to see how we can sustain compliance complexities and give you back control of your workforce.
About our author: Bella Russell
Workforce management and business solutions leader
Bella Russell, with over 20 years of experience in corporate migration and global recruitment, collaborates with senior leaders across the globe, from startups to enterprises, to align workforce planning, data-driven methodologies, and global teams, enabling companies to successfully develop and implement expansion strategies on a global scale.
Leveraging her experience in legal, staffing, and global mobility, Bella has consistently delivered results by optimising global employment strategies, enhancing business capabilities, and unlocking companies’ potential to build high-performing teams and drive sustainable growth.
