The enforcement of employment standards in Australia: Successes and challenges in aged care

The enforcement of minimum labour standards in Australia has undergone a significant transformation over the last decade with the Fair Work Ombudsman's (FWO's) adoption of a 'strategic' enforcement model. Nevertheless, there are areas of the labour market where both employment standards and their enforcement are inadequate, particularly for precarious or vulnerable workers. This paper explores the challenges to effective employment standard enforcement in aged care, a gendered industry characterized by restricted government funding, low wages, non-standard employment and low unionization. There has been some limited enforcement activity by both unions and the FWO, mainly in residential aged care. However, the gendered nature of the work in an industry in which the government is in effect the lead organization coupled with the invisibility of home-based aged care present significant enforcement challenges.