Australia's Pay Secrecy Ban — Secure Jobs, Better Pay Act 2022 (Fair Work Act)

The Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Act 2022 received assent on 6 December 2022 and amended the Fair Work Act 2009 to give employees a workplace right to ask about, discuss and disclose their pay and employment terms. Disclosure is a right, not an obligation: employees cannot be compelled to reveal pay.
Pay-secrecy clauses in awards and enterprise agreements ceased to have effect from 7 December 2022. Contracts made from that date cannot contain enforceable secrecy terms, employers had until 7 June 2023 to update agreements, and clauses in older contracts stay valid until the contract is varied or replaced. Employees are protected from adverse action, and can bring general protections claims if retaliation occurs.
The reform is part of a wider package that added gender equity as an objective of the Fair Work Act. Legal commentary presents it as a step toward narrowing the gender pay gap, but the sources reviewed contain no evaluation of measured effects on pay gaps or on complaint volumes, and the transitional carve-out for pre-December 2022 contracts limits early reach.
The practice is low-cost and transferable because it needs no reporting infrastructure, though its power depends on employees being willing to use the right.

Read the full analysis: https://studiolegal.com.au/blog/key-changes-to-australias-pay-secrecy-laws/