Christian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Melbourne for that contribution. Again, these are not amendments the government will be accepting. Amendments (1) to (3) in fact replicate matters raised in the Greens' Fair Work Amendment (Recovery of Unpaid Amounts for Franchisee Employees) Bill 2015, which is presently listed as not proceeding. What they do, in effect, would allow franchise workers to make underpayment claims directly against the franchisor rather than their employer, which is of course the franchisee. They then give the franchisor 14 days to settle the claim before court proceedings might be brought by the franchise worker, a union or the Fair Work Ombudsman for the recovery of the amount. The franchisor would, under the amendments, have a right to recover the amount from the responsible franchisee.

The reason the government is not accepting these amendments is that they would impose what could be described as a joint employer responsibility on both the franchisor and the franchisees. In other words, they would impose employment responsibilities on the franchisor and the franchisees in precisely the same way, where in truth there is only one employer in those relevant circumstances. The bill specifically recognises that franchisors and franchisees are separate entities and that they do have separate responsibilities. As employers, franchisees have a responsibility to meet their employment obligations under the Fair Work Act and remain responsible for their own wages bill. The franchisors are in a different position and they must take reasonable steps to prevent contravention they either know is occurring or ought reasonably to know is occurring. The government does not support imposing direct liability on franchisors for their franchisees' wages bill. The franchisors that take reasonable steps to prevent contraventions of the workplace law should not be subject to further regulation. That is, in essence, the reason we will not be supporting amendments (1) to (3).

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