Responsibility of an employer who is sponsoring an employee | MJLegal

Intro

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Compliance responsibilities

Ensure your employee works only in the nominated occupation
- if you want the employee to work in a new occupation then you will have to lodge a new nomination.
Ensure equivalent terms and conditions of employment:
- Annual earning and employment conditions of the employee must be at least the same as those stated on the nomination application and equivalent to an Australian worker
Not engage in discriminatory recruitment practices:
- Do not involve in discriminatory recruitment based on citizenship or visa status
Keep records:
- Keep verifiable records of payments, tasks, earnings, benefits, employment contracts,
- Keep records of document compliance with training obligations and work agreements.
Cover sponsorship and nomination costs,
- including migration and recruitment expenses (e.g., advertising, screening, interviewing, agent fees, and background checks).
- Pay reasonable travel costs for the sponsored employee and family to leave Australia (one-time, economy class or equivalent).
If your sponsored employee or any of their sponsored family members becomes an unlawful non-citizen, you might have to repay the costs incurred by the Commonwealth in relocating and/or removing them from Australia.
Cooperate with inspectors when they come to investigate

Responsibility to Inform the Department

Depending on the type of business that you operate, you must inform the department in writing within 28 calendar days if your business undergoes any of the specified changes below:

Responsibility to inform the Department

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What happens if you do not meet the sponsorship responsibilities?

There are possible actions the Department could take if you were to not meet the obligations.

Actions

Sanctions

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Enforceable undertaking

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Enforceable undertakings require you to promise, in writing, to undertake to complete certain actions to show that the failures have been rectified and won’t happen again.

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Civil action

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Issue an infringement notice of up to AUD 15,840 for individuals and AUD 79,200 for bodies corporate per obligation breach.

apply to a court for a civil penalty order of up to AUD 396,000 for a corporation and AUD 76,200 for an individual for each failure.

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Employer prohibition

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Employers who seriously, deliberately or repeatedly break the law may be prevented from employing more migrant workers for a period of time.

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In addition, you can also have sanctions imposed if

you provide false or misleading information to us or the Administrative Review Tribunal.
you no longer satisfy the criteria for approval as a sponsor or for variation of a term of that approval.
you have been found by a court or competent authority to have contravened a Commonwealth, state or territory law.
the person you have sponsored breaks a law relating to the licencing, registration, or membership needed to work in the nominated position.

When does your responsibility start and end?

Your responsibilities start on the day the employee is granted their visa. If the employee is already working for you, then your obligations start on the day the nomination is approved.

Your obligations end if your employee has a nomination approved for a different sponsor or if they are granted a further substantive visa that is not the SC 482 visa and is a different substantive visa. Your obligations will cease if the employee leaves Australia and their visa is no longer valid.