Intentional wage theft criminal offence in force
critical priorityone off
Due
1 January 2025
520 days ago — see source for next instance
What to file
Intentional underpayment of wages criminal offence — up to 10 years imprisonment.
Who is affected
Every employer in the national IR system. Small business employers complying with the Voluntary Small Business Wage Compliance Code have a safe harbour.
Penalty if missed
Criminal offence — up to 10 years' imprisonment for individuals and fines up to the greater of 3× underpayment or $7.825M for body corporates.
Applies to
All employers
Prep checklist
- Audit current payroll for award misclassification
- Map every employee against correct modern award rate
- Run a recovery and self-disclosure exercise via FWO if shortfalls found
- Adopt the Voluntary Small Business Wage Compliance Code (if SBE)
- Brief directors on personal liability
On Rules Mate