Australia’s employment laws prescribe mandatory minimum employment standards. However, it has become apparent in recent years that many employers are not complying with these standards, particularly in industries such as hospitality, retail and horticulture. Non-compliance with minimum employment standards has a number of negative impacts including on workers, on state tax revenue, on compliant employers and on the integrity of our laws. An example of a compliant employer is the Freedom Hub, a not-for-profit organisation whose primary purpose is to assist victims of modern slavery to transition to paid work. It funds these activities in part from profits earned in a café that it owns and operates in Waterloo in Sydney’s inner south. The Freedom Hub considers it important to treat all of its workers fairly including by complying with applicable minimum employment standards. It has discovered one significant problem, potentially reducing the café’s profits: it is competing in the Sydney hospitality industry in which many of its competitors are not complying with their legal obligations to their workers. The Freedom Hub is one of a number of stakeholders currently considering how to close the ‘compliance gap’ between our laws and practice. Write a report to the CEO of the Freedom Hub advising regarding the following in relation to cafés in Australia: Outline the state of employment law non-compliance, referring to the laws and published information including in government enquiries, academic research and industry reports; Explain why is there a difference between what the laws say and what happens in practice; and Advise what steps can be taken, and by whom, to improve compliance.
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