On 1 January 2025 the wage theft provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Act) commenced.  For the first time in Australian employment law, it is a criminal offence for a national system employer to not pay their employees what they are entitled to under a modern award or the Act.  In order to be convicted of a criminal offence, the person must have the requisite intent to commit the offence.  A wage theft offence may be punishable by imprisonment of an individual for a period of not more than 10 years or a fine – in the case of an individual this can be three times the underpayment amount (when this can be determined) and 5000 penalty units ($1,650,000) or 5000 penalty units; in the case of a body corporate the fine can be three times underpayment amount (when this can be determined) and a fine of not more than 25,000 penalty units ($8,250,000) or 25000 penalty units.

This development is a game changer in Australian employment law.  There has never been a better time for national system employers to make sure that they are complying with their obligations under modern awards and the Acts; if they don’t take compliance seriously, they may be facing some very serious personal and business consequences.