Fair Work Compliance Notice

A Compliance Notice is a notice issued by a Fair Work Inspector which requires an employer to fix a breach of an Australian workplace law.

If a Fair Work Inspector forms a reasonable belief that a person or other entity has contravened:

• a provision of the National Employment Standards (NES);
• a term of a modern award;
• a term of an enterprise agreement;
• a term of a workplace determination;
• a term of a national minimum wage order; or
• a term of an equal remuneration order,

a Fair Work Inspector can issue the person with a Compliance Notice.

While Compliance Notices are a non-punitive mechanism for the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) to address alleged contraventions of the Fair Work Act instead of commencing Court proceedings, the issuing of a Notice may occur in parallel with other matters which are investigated and addressed using other enforcement mechanisms. These enforcement mechanisms are summarised in the FWO Compliance and Enforcement Policy.

A Compliance Notice will require that the person take specified action to remedy the direct effects of the identified contraventions and/or require the person to produce reasonable evidence of compliance. A person who complies with a Compliance Notice is not taken to have admitted the contraventions or to have been found to have committed the contraventions.

If a person fails to comply with the Compliance Notice and does not have a reasonable excuse, that person has contravened the Fair Work Act and a Court may impose penalties of up to $6,660 for an individual or $33,300 for a body corporate (penalty amounts as of 1 July 2020). It is open to the FWO to commence litigation for non-compliance with a Compliance Notice, as well as for any other contraventions identified, including the underlying contraventions referred to in the Notice. 

The Fair Work Ombudsman expects all businesses operating in Australia to remain actively compliant with Australian workplace laws. In our opinion, the smart way to deal with matters around employment compliance is to ensure you have the right HR function, then keep on top of your employment obligations…at Bare Bones Consulting we’re all about avoiding problems in the first place. Need a HR partner to point you in the right direction? Call us today…first chat is free.