Minns Labor Government passes major reforms to protect workers

The reforms complement the Government’s proposed change to workers compensation by strengthening the state’s work health and safety laws by making prevention of injuries central to the system.

The changes will enhance the standards for a safe workplace, improve enforcements of these standards, including through extended evidence gathering powers, improve wage theft laws, create new standards and objectives on workplace bullying and sexual harassment in the public sector and resolve workplace safety disputes faster.

The changes to both the Industrial Relations Act and Safety Act aims to modernise workplace protections, improve gender equality outcomes, and strengthen the jurisdiction of the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) in addressing critical issues such as bullying and sexual harassment.

Key reforms include:

• Gender Equality and Safety: Enshrining gender equality and the elimination of workplace bullying and sexual harassment as explicit objectives of the Industrial Relations Act.
• Codes of practice: Make it mandatory to comply with a code of practice, where workplaces must provide health and safety equal to or better than the standard in the code of practice.
• Expanding the rights of entry permit holders to take measurements, conduct testing, take photos and videos while at the workplace such as testing for silica exceedances in tunnelling.
• Underpayments: Increasing the IRC’s small claims cap from $20,000 to $100,000 to ensure fairer compensation. The increase is in line with the Fair Work Act.
• New Jurisdictions for Workplace Bullying and Sexual Harassment: Establishing a ‘one-stop shop’ through the NSW Industrial Relations Commission for complaints from NSW Government and local government employees. Remedies include ordering a public apology, ordering an employer take specified actions to stop unlawful conduct, or ordering damages of up to $100,000.
• Enhanced Powers of the IRC: Clarifying and strengthening the Commission’s powers in resolving industrial disputes and facilitating return to work for injured employees in the public sector and local government.
• Prosecutions: Clarifying the ability of unions to prosecute work, health and safety breaches. The amendments will clarify the procedure of how these prosecutions will work to deter unsafe work practices.
• Increased transparency and dispute resolution which will allow employers, unions and workers to have unresolved WHS disputes heard independently by the Industrial Relations Commission. For example, an employer can appeal a provisional improvement notice (PIN), or a union can challenge a decision of SafeWork NSW to not resolve a safety dispute.
• New powers for SafeWork NSW to enforce compliance, share information across jurisdictions, and communicate more effectively with victims and families.
• Greater accountability on worksites, including requirements for employers issued improvement notices by health and safety representatives to report them to SafeWork NSW and expanded rights for entry permit holders to collect evidence.

These reforms reinforce the NSW Government’s biggest investment in workplace mental health prevention in the state’s history, through a $344 million Workplace Mental Health package, which includes: 

• SafeWork funding for injury prevention, including specialists in psychosocial injury.
• Wraparound psychological support services for people navigating the claims process.
• WH&S compliance and enforcement to strengthen psychosocial hazard prevention.
• Eight weeks’ income and medical/vocational support to access immediate support. 

Minister for Industrial Relations Sophie Cotsis said:

“I welcome changes to the Industrial Relations Act to further strength the Industrial Relations Commission’s ability to resolve disputes and to now resolve issues arising from Work Health and Safety legislation.

“The major reform focuses on gender equality as well as the elimination of workplace bullying and sexual harassment which are new key objectives of the IR Act. 

“Workplace bullying causes serious harm to worker health and organisations. According to the Productivity Commission, bullying is estimated to cost up to $36 billion annually in Australia.

“The amendments establish a ‘one-stop shop’ for handling complaints through the IRC and enhance its powers to resolve disputes and support injured workers' return to work.

“This legislation follows the passing of laws in 2023 which restored the independence of the industrial umpire, creating the structure needed to deliver meaningful improvements to the working lives of hundreds and thousands of workers in the state.

“I would like to thank all those associated with this bill including unions, business and the community for their ongoing advocacy.”