Following the furore over rampant employee underpayments and exploitation in 7-Eleven, Caltex and Domino's franchises, the government's plan to tackle the issue by giving more teeth to the Fair Work Act has taken a step forward with the Senate passing the "Vulnerable Workers" legislation.

After Labor squeezed in a few last minute amendments, it's a done deal and will be law soon. Here's what you need to know.

Serious fines for "serious contraventions"

The Bill creates a new "serious contravention" category of offence that attracts penalties 10 times higher than those currently available under the Fair Work Act. If a contravention is deliberate and systematic the offending corporation can be fined up to $630,000 and individuals involved in the contravention up to $126,000.

Franchisors and holding companies targeted

Sights will now be set on franchisors if their franchisees breach workplace laws and the franchisor knew or could reasonably be expected to have known that the breach would occur. The same rules have also been extended to holding companies in relation to their subsidiaries. That means no more looking the other way when your franchisees or subsidiaries are up to no good.

Franchisors and holding companies can get off the hook if they took reasonable steps to prevent the breach by the franchisee or subsidiary.

Record keeping reverse onus

You know all those pesky employee record keeping obligations in the Fair Work Act? No? Time to get up to speed.

As a result of Labor's amendments, if it is alleged that an employer contravened a workplace law but the employer does not have the relevant employment records, the employer is assumed to have breached the law unless it can prove otherwise, or has a reasonable excuse for not having the records.

Fair Work Inquisition

The Fair Work Ombudsman has been armed with heaps more investigative powers, similar to those of ASIC and the ACCC. These are limited to issues arising from underpayment concerns.

We do not disclaim anything about this article. We're quite proud of it really.