Enforcement action

Stand-down period

Infringement notice

• 6 month stand-down for a single infringement notice.
• Each subsequent infringement notice incurs a further stand-down of 6 months.
• The maximum stand-down for multiple infringement notices issued at one time is 12 months.

Penalties ordered by the Employment Relations Authority or by the Employment Court.

Non-pecuniary penalties

• 6 month stand-down when the total amount of penalties ordered in a case is up to and including $1,000 for individuals and companies.
• 12 month stand-down when the total amount of penalties ordered in a case is:
  • over $1,000 but less than $10,000 for individuals
  • over $1,000 but less than $20,000 for companies.
• 18 month stand-down when the total amount of penalties ordered in a case is:
  • $10,000 and above, but less than $25,000, for individuals
  • $20,000 and above, but less than $50,000, for companies.
• 24 month stand-down when the total amount of penalties ordered in a case is:
  • $25,000 and above for individuals
  • $50,000 and above for companies.

Pecuniary penalties

• 24 month stand-down for a pecuniary penalty from the Court

Notes:

The Authority and the Court take the approach of looking at the totality of penalties for a group of breaches without necessarily identifying a penalty for a breach. Therefore the proposed stand-down periods are set according to the total dollar amount for penalties ordered for a case.

If an individual or company incurred several penalties in one determination they would only get the maximum of 24 months stand-down period at this time, but the individual or company would be eligible for another stand-down period after this if further non-compliance triggered another stand-down.

Declaration of Breach ordered by the Employment Court

• 12 month instant stand-down when Declaration of Breach issued, adjusted upwards as appropriate to reflect the resulting penalties ordered (up to a total of 24 months).

Banning Order

• 12 month stand-down from recruiting migrant workers for employers incurring a banning order of less than 5 years, to be added at the end of the ban period.
• 24 month stand-down from recruiting migrant workers for employers incurring a banning order of 5 years and over, to be added at the end of the ban period.