What Is HR Compliance Training

HR compliance training is the part of workplace compliance training that deals with an organisation’s obligations as an employer. It covers pay and entitlements, record keeping, recruitment, performance management, termination and behaviour at work. The audience is usually the HR team and line managers, because they make the decisions that create legal exposure.

That focus is what separates it from general compliance training. General training teaches every worker the rules that keep them safe and lawful in their own role. HR compliance training teaches the people who hire, pay, manage and dismiss others how to do those things within the Fair Work Act, the anti-discrimination statutes and the organisation’s own policies.

The stakes moved sharply in recent years. From 1 January 2025, intentionally underpaying wages or entitlements can be a criminal offence under the Fair Work Act, with the Fair Work Ombudsman able to refer matters to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. Honest mistakes are not caught. Separately, since 27 February 2024 a serious contravention no longer needs to be knowing and systematic, because reckless conduct now meets the threshold. Payroll and record keeping errors that once looked administrative now carry real consequences.

Common subject areas include:

• workplace policies and procedures and how managers apply them consistently
• performance management, warnings and lawful termination
• diversity, equity and inclusion and the duty to prevent discrimination
• pay, awards, entitlements and record keeping

Reporting duties sit here too. Under the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012, employers with 100 or more employees report annually to WGEA against six gender equality indicators, one of which covers policies to prevent sexual harassment and discrimination. Obligations differ across states and territories and change often, so treat this as general information rather than legal advice.

Posts tagged here work through those obligations in practice. To see how Australian organisations deliver and track this training, browse Sentrient’s compliance training courses and HR management system.