THE Office of the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) has filed three legal proceedings under its new discrimination jurisdiction since 1 July 2009, a Senate Estimates committee heard on 15 February 2012.

FWO executive director Karsten Lehn told the Senate Estimates committee that two of the three matters filed related to alleged discrimination on the basis of pregnancy and/or family responsibilities, while the other related to allegations of disability discrimination.

Lehn told the committee that allegations of pregnancy discrimination were ‘typically’ easier to prove given there was physical evidence of pregnancy.

For more about the Ombudsman’s discrimination jurisdiction and activities, click here.

No sham contracting prosecutions yet but several in the pipeline

The ability to prosecute sham contracting arrangements is also a new power for the FWO since the Fair Work Act was enacted on 1 July 2009, although it has brought no prosecutions under those provisions to date.

FWO executive director Karsten Lehn told a Senate Estimates committee on 15 February that several prosecutions were anticipated.

A report the FWO released in November 2011 indicated that seven companies appeared to have breached the Fair Work Act’s sham contracting provisions as part of a pilot compliance campaign in the cleaning, hairdressing and call centre industries.

The seven potential breaches were identified from 103 companies that were checked for compliance during the pilot, 92 of which actually engaged contractors, the FWO said.

To view the preliminary report on the sham contracting pilot, click here.

To view the Senate Estimates transcript, click here.