26/10/2021
October 2021
Proposed law changes for people who employ support workers in the home
Wageline at the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) is contacting NDIS providers to raise awareness about proposed changes to state employment laws.
The WA Government has introduced new legislation which is intended to change employment obligations for people who directly employ someone to provide domestic services in the home. These people are referred to here as ‘household employers’.
Domestic services include caring for a child, a person with a disability or an elderly person, as well as cleaning and help with other household tasks.
People who self-manage NDIS funding and directly employ their own support staff are likely to be household employers and are among those who could be affected by these changes.
Proposed changes.
Currently, some state employment laws do not apply to household employers who employ people to provide domestic services.
On 20 October 2021, the WA Government introduced the Industrial Relations Legislation Amendment BiIl 2021 (the Bill) into State Parliament.
The Bill seeks to extend coverage of minimum employment conditions to domestic employees who are employed directly by household employers.
This would mean employees providing domestic services for household employers would be entitled to an expanded range of minimum employment protections, and would have to be paid at least the state minimum wage for every hour worked.
The proposed changes would not affect workers employed by a business, agency or another organisation, as those employees are already covered by minimum employment conditions.
The Bill is currently before the State Parliament and will not come into effect until it is passed by Parliament and proclaimed to come into operation.
More information on the proposed changes is available in a fact sheet, Proposed extension of coverage of state employment laws to domestic employees, available on the Wageline website. You can also find more information about other changes in the Bill on the Industrial relations reform in Western Australia page.
We welcome and encourage you to share this information with your members and other community organisations.
Subscribe to Wageline News or follow WagelineWA on social media to keep informed of changes and progress on the Bill.
https://newsletters.commerce.wa.gov.au/t/r-l-trjuiua-batdajju-r/
Telephone: 1300 655 266
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www.dmirs.wa.gov.au/wageline
wageline@dmirs.wa.gov.au
