Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James has recently highlighted the personal liability that could be held by HR managers and directors in cases of employment law breach. Similar to health and safety standards, managers who turn a blind eye to wrong doings by the company (or by their contracted suppliers) could be held liable for failure to ensure their workers are being paid fairly and correctly.
Particularly in the hospitality industry, it seems that every week there are a half dozen more cases of businesses being held accountable for underpayment of staff – especially foreign workers who are vulnerable to exploitation. Decisions made by upper management – including budgetary – can have a supply-chain flow on effect, meaning that less reliable suppliers are engaged for services such as labour hire. Price-focused procurement may lead to the selection of low-skilled work in appropriate for the required tasks, or to engagement of agencies with extremely low margins, who may pass the squeeze on to the staff at the end of the chain, in the form of underpayments.
The risk of exploitation is always increased, the more links there are in the supply chain, so we are pleased to see that greater emphasis is being placed on accountability. We hope to see a future for the hospitality industry in which it's workers are protected, passionate, and are retained in the industry for many years. There have always been those willing to do the wrong thing, who give a bad name to agencies and the industry alike, and unfortunately a tight legislative watch may be the only way to deal with these – but it takes the actions of every accountable person to ensure we build a positive industry for all.