Recruiters and Labour Hire Companies Face Penalties for Referring Workers

Recruiters and Labour Hire Companies may face penalties if they refer non-citizen workers to employers, even if the referred worker is not a direct employee of the recruitment or labour hire company.

Under the Employer Sanctions, an offence is committed where a business refers an illegal worker for work with a third party.

This applies to businesses operating a service referring people to another for work – this captures most recruitment agencies and labour hire services.

An offence occurs if the referred candidate did not have a visa or appropriate work rights at the time they were referred to the end user.

It is then very important for recruitment agencies and labour hire businesses to check that candidates have appropriate work rights ahead of referring them to employers.