Non-Enforcement of Minimum Wage Laws and the Shifting Protective Subject of Labour Law in Australia: A New Province for Law and Order?

Flanagan, F; Clibborn, S

Non-Enforcement of Minimum Wage Laws and the Shifting Protective Subject of Labour Law in Australia: A New Province for Law and Order?

Flanagan, F

Clibborn, S

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Publisher:: Sydney Law School
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: The Sydney Law Review, 2023, 45, (3), pp. 337-370
Issue Date:: 2023-11-20

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Flanagan, F https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3401-1918
dc.contributor.author	Clibborn, S
dc.date.accessioned	2024-01-02T05:31:13Z
dc.date.available	2024-01-02T05:31:13Z
dc.date.issued	2023-11-20
dc.identifier.citation	The Sydney Law Review, 2023, 45, (3), pp. 337-370
dc.identifier.issn	0082-0512
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/173922
dc.description.abstract	This article explains the trajectory of minimum wage laws in Australia, from their initial characterisation as ‘sacrosanct’ following the Harvester judgment to their current status as routinely violated, in terms of changes in the protective function of labour law in Australia. Through a comparative historical analysis, we argue that state actors have consistently used minimum wage laws to make moral interventions in labour relationships to protect the viability of particular employment relations actors, although the focus of those interventions has shifted from employees towards employers. Reconnecting the ‘how’ of wage minima enforcement with the ‘who’ and ‘why’ of labour law protection also contributes to explaining long-term continuities in the functional exclusion of particular employee groups from protection, namely non-citizens and workers in nonunionised industries, despite the prima facie universalism of current wage laws.
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	Sydney Law School
dc.relation.ispartof	The Sydney Law Review
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject	1801 Law
dc.subject.classification	48 Law and legal studies
dc.title	Non-Enforcement of Minimum Wage Laws and the Shifting Protective Subject of Labour Law in Australia: A New Province for Law and Order?
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	45
utslib.location.activity	Australia
utslib.for	1801 Law
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Law
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
pubs.consider-herdc	true
dc.date.updated	2024-01-02T05:31:12Z
pubs.issue	3
pubs.publication-status	Published online
pubs.volume	45
utslib.citation.issue	3

Abstract:

This article explains the trajectory of minimum wage laws in Australia, from their initial characterisation as ‘sacrosanct’ following the Harvester judgment to their current status as routinely violated, in terms of changes in the protective function of labour law in Australia. Through a comparative historical analysis, we argue that state actors have consistently used minimum wage laws to make moral interventions in labour relationships to protect the viability of particular employment relations actors, although the focus of those interventions has shifted from employees towards employers. Reconnecting the ‘how’ of wage minima enforcement with the ‘who’ and ‘why’ of labour law protection also contributes to explaining long-term continuities in the functional exclusion of particular employee groups from protection, namely non-citizens and workers in nonunionised industries, despite the prima facie universalism of current wage laws.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/173922