A practical guide to protecting your organisation from payroll compliance risks!
The Wage Theft Compliance Toolkit is becoming increasingly important for Australian businesses as workplace laws continue to evolve.
Wage Theft Compliance Toolkit 2026
In January 2025, the Australian Government introduced new legislation that criminalises intentional wage theft, marking a major shift in workplace compliance requirements. Under this law, deliberate underpayments by employers can result in criminal prosecution, substantial penalties, and significant reputational damage.
For many organisations, this signals a clear message: payroll compliance is no longer just an administrative responsibility. It is now a legal, operational, and governance priority.
At VeiraMal, we work with businesses across Australia to help them strengthen payroll processes, reduce compliance risks, and ensure their people operations are aligned with current legislation.
Why Does Wage Theft Compliance Matter Now?
Many payroll errors occur unintentionally due to complex award rules, incorrect classifications, or misconfigured payroll systems. However, under the new legal framework, organisations must take reasonable steps to ensure accurate wage payments.
This means employers should be actively reviewing:
- employee classifications under modern awards
- payroll software configurations
- overtime, penalties, and loadings
- record-keeping and payroll processes
Businesses that rely on outdated systems or assumptions are increasingly exposed to financial, legal, and reputational risks.
A structured approach to payroll governance is now essential.
Introducing the Wage Theft Compliance Toolkit from VeiraMal
To support organisations navigating these changes, VeiraMal has developed a comprehensive Wage Theft Compliance Toolkit.
This guide is designed to help you:
- Understand the key components of the legislation.
- Audit your current payroll processes.
- Identify potential compliance gaps.
- Implement practical solutions to stay compliant.
- Protect your organisation from legal and reputational risk.
The toolkit provides practical insights and step-by-step guidance to help businesses strengthen their payroll systems and governance.
A glimpse into our 5-Step Wage Theft Compliance Action Plan
The full guide includes a structured five-step action plan to help organisations strengthen payroll compliance.
Here are two steps that businesses should consider immediately.
1. Map Awards and Enterprise Agreements (EBAs)
Conduct a thorough review of all employee classifications under the relevant Modern Awards or Enterprise Agreements.
Confirm that each employee’s role and responsibilities align with their classification level to minimise underpayment risks.
Incorrect classification is one of the most common causes of wage compliance issues.
(More details and practical guidance are included in the guide.)
2. Audit Payroll Systems
Review your payroll software and internal payroll processes to ensure they correctly interpret awards and enterprise agreements.
This includes checking that:
- Pay cycles are correctly configured
- Overtime calculations are accurate
- Penalty rates and loadings are applied correctly
Payroll software applies rules, but it does not validate whether those rules are correct.
(The full audit framework is explained in the guide.)
The remaining steps of the Wage Theft Compliance Action Plan provide deeper insights into strengthening payroll governance, monitoring risks, and implementing sustainable compliance processes.
Download the Wage Theft Compliance Toolkit
To understand the full framework and access the complete five-step action plan, download our Wage Theft Compliance Toolkit.
Simply fill out the contact form below, and we will send you the download link.
The guide will help you:
- understand the new wage theft legislation.
- Review your payroll systems.
- Identify compliance risks early.
- Implement practical solutions to protect your organisation.
Book your free 30-minute compliance discovery call.
If you would like guidance tailored to your organisation, VeiraMal is also offering a Free 30-Minute Compliance Discovery Call.
During this session, we provide:
- A preliminary risk scan of your payroll setup.
- Guidance on the new wage theft legislation.
- Practical recommendations tailored to your systems, workforce structure, and business size.
Book your discovery call today: Visit our Contact us page or email info@veiramal.com.au
At VeiraMal, we help organisations transform payroll and HR compliance from a risk into a strategic advantage. You can refer to our range of HR services through our services page : VeiraMal’s Services
