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Employers & Volunteer Coordinators: Your Obligations

A person may only apply for a Working with Children Check once they are to be offered child-related work. 

Employers and Volunteer Co-ordinators should consider advising the person that permanent or continuous employment in child-related work is dependent on a successful WWC Check.

Following is a summary of the major obligations employers have under the WWC legislation.   Please refer to the legislation for information on all the obligations and prohibitions that apply to employers. 

You must:

  • Keep adequate records that demonstrate you are complying with the WWC legislation and if asked by the WWC Screening Unit must provide this information. For a list of Compliance Audit Questions click here. 
  • Comply with the WWC Check legislation.
  • Notify the WWC Screening Unit in writing, as soon as practicable, if you resonably suspect a person has a charge or conviction which makes it inappropriate for them to be in child-related work.

You must not :

  • Employ someone in child related work if you are aware he or she has a conviction or pending charge for a Class1 or Class 2 offence and does not have a current WWC Card or hasn’t applied for one.
  • Employ someone in child-related work if you are aware they have withdrawn their application for a WWC Check.
  • Give information that you know is false or misleading on the application form or directly to the Screening Unit.
  • Employ someone in child-related work if you are aware they have a current Interim Negative Notice or Negative Notice.  To do so is a criminal offence with a penalty of $60,000 and 5 years imprisonment.  It is important this information be treated sensitively.  This means advising only those who need to know to ensure that the person does not carry out child-related work.

You will also need to complete the Employer/Agency Representative section [Part 6 and Part 7] of your employee/volunteers WWC application forms.

For more information see page 4 of Factsheet 3: Information for Employers and Volunteer Organisations