Compliance notices
A compliance notice is a notice issued by a Fair Work Inspector which requires an employer to fix a breach of an Australian workplace law.
On this page:
What is a compliance notice
Sometimes when an employer doesn't cooperate with a Fair Work Inspector to fix a breach, we can issue a compliance notice instead of starting legal proceedings.
A compliance notice must include information about:
- how the employer has breached a workplace law
- what the employer needs to do to fix the issue (eg. pay an amount to 1 or more employees and/or give evidence to show the issue has been fixed)
- the time the employer has to fix the issue (eg. that payment is made within 14 days)
- how the employer can apply to have the notice reviewed by a court
- what happens if an employer doesn't comply with the notice.
Failure to comply
If an employer doesn't comply with a compliance notice and we take them to court the employer can be fined.
We can't start legal proceedings for breaches set out in the notice if an employer complies with the notice.
Compliance notices can only be given for breaches that happened after 1 July 2009.
Compliance notices can't be given for breaches that are the subject of a current enforceable undertaking.
Source reference: Fair Work Act 2009 s.716 
