Addressing temporary migrant worker exploitation

The government has announced a number of policy and operational changes aimed at reducing the exploitation of temporary migrant workers. Changes include:

• introducing a duty on third parties with significant control or influence over an employer to take reasonable steps to prevent a breach of employment standards occurring
• disqualifying people convicted of migrant exploitation and people trafficking from managing or directing a company
• establishing three new immigration infringement offences targeting non-compliant employer behaviour
• allowing Labour Inspectors to issue an infringement notice where employers fail to provide requested documents in a reasonable timeframe.

These changes will begin to be implemented from 2022. Policy work will begin to enable legislative change where needed. Other changes will be implemented through immigration instructions, included in existing work programmes, or supported by other MBIE teams.

For more see:

• MBIE’sTemporary migrant worker exploitation review
• our submission on addressing temporary migrant worker exploitation