A loophole allowing labour hire workers to be paid less than other employees is in the federal government's sights.
Removing a "double standard" allowing employers to pay labour hire workers less than other employees is expected to boost pay for about 67,000 people.
Employment Relations Minister Tony Burke will on Monday introduce changes to industrial laws to federal parliament's lower house.
Under the changes, employees, unions and hosts will be able to apply to the industrial umpire so labour hire workers can be paid the same wages as those covered by enterprise agreements.
Employers who deliberately underpay workers could be jailed for up to 10 years and fined as much as $7.8 million.
"It certainly focuses the mind when people know this isn't something where worst-case scenario you just have to pay the money back," Mr Burke told ABC radio.
"It is just as much a criminal offence, if these laws go through, for the worker to steal from the employer as it is for the employer to steal from the worker.
"The double standard ends with today's legislation."
Mr Burke said the legislative changes, which will be subject to four weeks of debate, were not an attack on labour hire as a valid way to plug workforce shortages but were aimed at employers using the model to undercut employee pay rates.
He said most Australian workers would not notice any difference.
The Fair Work Commission will need to be sure the enterprise agreement would apply to the labour hire worker if they were directly employed.
Small businesses with fewer than 15 employees will be carved out from the rule changes, with a default three-month exemption period to allow short-term temporary work to continue.
Employers will have about a year to prepare, with the new pay requirements to kick in from November 2024.
Mr Burke said the government was in consultation with the crossbench.
"I'm very hopeful that there'll be enough goodwill to be able to close these loopholes this year," he said.
The labour hire changes - and the workplace reforms more generally - have come up against fierce opposition from the coalition and business lobby throughout the consultation process.
Business groups have warned the definition of labour hire would be broad and would cover all sorts of contractor arrangements.
They say the laws would generally make it harder to use labour hire workers to cover skills shortfalls.
The "closing loopholes" bill will define casual employment, set minimum standards for independent contractors in the gig economy, and safeguard workers from discrimination if they have been affected by domestic violence.
