FWO launches multi-year inquiry into Disability Support Services Sector

The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) has initiated what proposes to be a comprehensive examination of the Disability Support Services Sector, in a bid to better understand how “widespread non-compliance with workplace laws” continues to occur within “a sector with vulnerable consumers and workers”. 

According to the FWO, 75,000+ enquiries have been responded to since January 2020; 2500+ anonymous reports have been lodged; and 3000+ matters have been attended to (including employee requests/claims and employer self-reported non-compliance issues).

The FWO has identified concerns relating to “compliance challenges”, such as “award complexity or ambiguity”, “significant regulatory change” and “funding or financial viability concerns” and suggests the inquiry provides “an opportunity to observe and assess how the sector is structured and how employers behave” to “make a positive impact on employer behaviour” by identifying why non-compliance is occurring and pinpointing “the most effective way to improve and sustain a culture of compliance”.

Stages of the multi-year process will include fact finding, followed by tailored education and investigation of the “most concerning behaviours” pertaining to non-compliance, culminating, where necessary, in the use of “enforcement tools” (e.g. issuing fines) to ensure compliance.

The inquiry has been received well by employee advocates, with representatives of the ASU and Centre for Future Work expressing similar sentiments endorsing a crack-down on unscrupulous actors within the sector, including gig-economy platforms which promote competition on price.

Employers, employees, contractors and even NDIS Participants are invited to engage in the inquiry, initially by email, with “in-person events in metropolitan, regional and rural areas in every state” also to be scheduled. Information on how to participate is available on the FWO’s dedicated inquiry webpage, under the subheading ‘How you can contribute’.