Bill
Corporations Amendment (Strengthening Protections for Employee Entitlements) Bill 2018
passed, as at 2019-04-05. Treasury portfolio.
- Sponsor
- Not recorded
- Portfolio
- Treasury
Recorded stages
- introduced — 2018-09-20
- second reading — 2018-09-20
- second reading — 2018-10-22
- second reading — 2018-10-24
- second reading — 2018-10-24
- third reading — 2018-10-24
- introduced — 2018-11-12
- second reading — 2018-11-12
- second reading — 2019-04-03
- third reading — 2019-04-03
- other — 2019-04-04
- passed — 2019-04-04
- royal assent — 2019-04-05
Divisions
Plain-language summary
Written by a model from the explanatory memorandum; not the record, as at 2018-09-20.
The bill would change company law to improve how unpaid wages and other employee entitlements are recovered when a business goes broke.
It would expand criminal offences to cover reckless actions that avoid paying entitlements, create a civil penalty with a reasonable person test, and let the Australian Tax Office, the Department of Jobs and Small Business, and the Fair Work Ombudsman seek compensation.
A court or the Australian Securities and Investments Commission could disqualify directors or officers for up to five years if, within the past seven years, two or more companies had minimal or no return on a Fair Entitlements Guarantee advance.
- New criminal and civil penalties target transactions that avoid or reduce employee entitlement recovery, including those by company officers or others involved.
- Liquidators and certain agencies can seek court orders for related entities to contribute to unpaid entitlements when it is just and equitable and the entity benefited from the employees' labour.
- Directors and officers with a history of corporate contraventions and minimal Fair Entitlements Guarantee returns can be disqualified by a court or the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
Employees, company directors and officers, liquidators, the Australian Tax Office, the Department of Jobs and Small Business, the Fair Work Ombudsman, and entities in corporate groups.
Sources
em
em supp
billhome
frl act