Five construction companies in Victoria, Australia, and three company directors received AUD 759,674 (USD 505,736) in total penalties for their involvement in unlicensed labour hire operations. Victoria’s Labour Hire Authority said it’s the largest total penalty for breaches of labour hire law in Australia.

The Supreme Court of Victoria held that construction company Rocktown engaged two companies to supply workers, which engaged two further companies to supply workers, according to the Labour Hire Authority. None of the companies supplying workers was licensed to provide labour hire services.

“While subcontracting can be lawful, it can also be used to conceal worker exploitation, the involvement of people who are not fit and proper, and a range of other unlawful conduct,” Labour Hire Licensing Commissioner Steve Dargavel said in a press release.

The Labour Hire Authority noted:

• Rocktown faces a penalty of AUD 101,774 (USD 67,754) for engaging Unitted Construction and Unitted Landscaping to provide workers even though the companies did not have labour hire licenses.
• In turn, each of the two firms faces penalties of AUD 116,314 (USD 77,434) after engaging two other unlicensed firms to supply workers: Century Interior Service and VL Building.
• Century Interior Service and VL Building face penalties of AUD 174,470 (USD 116,150) per company.
• Company directors Ejup Ademi, Qizhi Zhang and Vincent Lin face penalties of AUD 25,444 (USD 16,939) each.

Rocktown has been contacted for comment. Contact information could not be found for the others. The companies had faced penalties of up to AUD 5.5 million (USD 3.7 million).

“Labour hire licensing provides a range of important checks and balances on companies and the people running them, so significant penalties apply for operating without a licence,” Dargavel said. “Businesses operating in Victoria should always check the LHA website to ensure every labour hire provider in their supply chain holds an active licence.”