“Same job same pay” has limited impact

The “Same job same pay” amendment to the Fair Work Act that is publicised as affording a labour hire worker the same pay as a worker directly hired by the host business is in but how extensive will the impact be.

Despite the very loud public outcries from some business organisations that this will be disastrous for business and reduce flexibility and productivity, the reality is that most organisations will not feel any impact at all.  

Like many of the Albanese Government’s workplace relations reforms, they are designed to redress perceived imbalances in certain situations and sometimes they are limited to particular industry sectors.

What does the legislative change mean? 

Applications can be made to the Fair Work Commission for a Regulated Labour Hire Arrangement Order through which the FWC can direct that an enterprise agreement applying to the host business in relation to its direct employees can be extended to also cover labour hire workers doing the same work as that  covered by that enterprise agreement.

In essence it means that the Fair Work Commission can order a labour hire firm to pay its employees the same monetary entitlements that apply under an enterprise agreement to workers employed by the host organisation (ie the business that the labour hire firm provides labour hire workers to). 

So it follows that your business will not be directly affected by this change if:

• if you don’t have an enterprise agreement and/or
• if you don’t use labour hire in your business and/or
• if yours is not a labour hire business and/or
• for other than labour hire businesses, if you are a small business employer with 15 or less employees.

There is quite a bit of detail on exemptions and rules and we don’t propose to go into that here. What we mainly want you to know is that this legislative change will have little if any impact on most organisations.

Plus,  because these Regulated Labour Hire Arrangement Orders cannot legally take effect until 1 November 2024, there is also plenty of time for the few really affected organisations to adjust to this new regime.

If you are using labour hire or are providing workers to perform work for another business and you want to check on your situation re this legislative change, give us a call on 1300 108 488.