Employsure fined $3M
10 February 2023Australia’s full Federal Court has upheld the ACCC’s penalty appeal in a case against workplace relations advisory firm Employsure Pty Ltd and ordered Employsure to pay a penalty of $3 million for making false and misleading representations in its online ads that it was a government agency, or was affiliated with a government agency.
The Court set aside the $1 million penalty originally imposed by the Federal Court, finding it was manifestly inadequate and stated that misrepresenting that one has government sponsorship or approval is very serious and must be deterred.
The Court found that the original $1 million penalty was inadequate to deter Employsure and other potential businesses from similar actions in the future.
The ACCC received more than 100 complaints about Employsure’s conduct and was concerned that small business operators were misled by Employsure’s ads into thinking they were getting help and advice from a government agency.