Recruitment compliance guide for hiring managers

What’s in this guide?

The recruitment compliance guide for hiring managers is designed to help HR leaders mitigate risks, improve hiring outcomes, and support hiring managers to make legally sound decisions.

It includes:

• A breakdown of key recruitment laws
• Real-world recruitment compliance scenarios
• Actionable advice for building lawful recruitment practices
• Interview templates, scorecards, and legislation summaries

Whether you’re supporting one hiring manager or fifty, this is the toolkit you need.

Key recruitment laws and regulations in the hiring process 

Fair Work Act 2009

The Fair Work Act 2009 is Australia’s primary piece of employment legislation. It establishes minimum employment standards, outlines employee entitlements, provides general protections, and prevents unfair practices in employment.

Age Discrimination Act 2004

The Age Discrimination Act 2004 makes age-based discrimination unlawful. This piece of legislation provides protection from candidates being discriminated against due to their age in the hiring process.

Sex Discrimination Act 1984

The Sex Discrimination Act 1984 makes it unlawful to discriminate based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, intersex status, marital or relationship status, pregnancy, potential pregnancy, breastfeeding or parenting responsibilities. 

Disability Discrimination Act 1992

The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 protects individuals and candidates from being treated unfairly throughout the recruitment process and in the workplace due to a disability. It covers physical, intellectual, psychiatric, sensory, neurological or learning disabilities.

Racial Discrimination Act 1975

In Australia, the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 makes it illegal to discriminate against someone based on their race, colour, nationality or ethnic origin. 

Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) legislation 

In Australia, each state and territory has their own Equal Employment Opportunity legislation. They cover similar protections at the federal level, but often include additional areas such as political views, religious beliefs, discrimination on the basis of an irrelevant criminal record or parental status. 

Common compliance mistakes during the interview process that can lead to non compliance 

Not following Australian employment laws and regulations throughout the interview process

In Australia, there are a few key pieces of legislation that govern employment, including the recruitment process. These laws exist to ensure fairness in employment and protections to people from any kind of discrimination or discriminatory practices.

With so much on the line, it’s essential all hiring managers are trained adequately on their legal obligations to ensure no discrimination occurs during the interview process. The reality is that even one unintentional misstep from a hiring manager (like asking the wrong question in an interview) can lead to costly legal battles and reputational damage that can be difficult to recover from. 

We’ve outlined some questions which generally are off-limits and explained why in the guide.

Not sure how to comply with the key recruitment compliance laws in your business? Our team of employment lawyers and HR experts can help you navigate these tricky areas. Find out more about our HR advisory service. 

Not crafting job descriptions in line with relevant laws

Ignoring Australia’s employment laws in your job ads can be a direct path to legal trouble. Every job posting should accurately reflect the job role and responsibilities, and use inclusive language. 

Job descriptions must focus on the skills, experience and capabilities needed. From the wording you choose to where you advertise, your job advertising must comply with the employment laws. 

How can HR managers support recruitment compliance for hiring managers?

While this guide has focused on how to educate your hiring managers on recruitment compliance, there are a few things you can do as an HR leader to help set them up for success before they need someone urgently.

Here are some practices you can implement to create a fair and honest hiring system for everyone. 

Create a structured recruitment process for all qualified candidates to follow 

Have your hiring managers follow a standardised hiring process for recruitment. Every time a new role appears, candidates should all move through the one funnel. 

Under one role, candidates should be interviewed with the same set of questions and respond to the same task. Make sure all of the job applicant paperwork and correspondence is filed in a place that is easily accessible to the hiring team.

Looking for a system that can handle it all? Check out our recruitment software and have peace of mind everything from hiring is all in one place. 

Run regular training for hiring managers that covers the do’s and don’ts of interviewing

It’s likely that you work with a lot of people at all different experience levels who are conducting and participating in interviews. Maybe someone is running their very first interview, or someone hasn’t interviewed in a while and is in need of a refresher. 

To make sure everyone is across the legal requirements, schedule annual or bi-annual training sessions for all hiring managers that cover anti-discrimination laws, privacy, and interview do’s and don’ts. (Hint: You can also use this guide!) 

Create resources for your hiring managers to refer to in the recruitment process 

Creating documents and resources for your team to lean on can give them the confidence and support to nail their interviews and secure top talent.

This could include creating a template for job ads that hiring managers can easily fill out, sharing interview questions (we’ve included a template in the guide), or housing all important information about the recruitment process on your website for candidates to look at.

If you’re looking to learn more about recruitment, check out our recruitment process guide here.

How can Employment Hero support your recruitment efforts?

For Aussie businesses, hiring can feel like a full-time job. Sorting through irrelevant applications, chasing down resumes, organising interviews and creating compliant interview questions. It’s no wonder great candidates slip through the cracks and hiring teams are exhausted.

And when the right person finally comes along? You need to be ready. The best candidates aren’t on the market for long, and drawn-out processes can mean missing out altogether.

That’s why it pays to have an Employment Operating System that does the heavy lifting. 

With our Employment Operating System and powerful recruitment technology, you can:

• Attract better candidates. Get your role in front of the right people with smart tools (like SmartMatch) that go beyond traditional job boards.
• Cut down on manual work. Automate job ads, track applicants in one place, and use built-in tools to shortlist efficiently.
• Keep things moving. With structured scorecards and a clear hiring workflow, your team can make confident decisions, fast.
• Set new hires up for success. Send through their digital employment contract and create tailored onboarding workflows to help new team members hit the ground running, so they can feel like part of the team from day one.

Whether you’re hiring your first employee or growing your team, Employment Hero helps you focus on what matters: finding great people and bringing them into your business.

Ready to see for yourself? 

Book a demo or check out our free hiring tool now. 

Disclaimer: The information in this guide is current as at 25 June 2025, and has been prepared by Employment Hero Pty Ltd (ABN 11 160 047 709) and its related bodies corporate (Employment Hero). The views expressed in this guide are general information only, are provided in good faith to assist employers and their employees, and should not be relied on as professional advice. The Information is based on data supplied by third parties. While such data is believed to be accurate, it has not been independently verified and no warranties are given that it is complete, accurate, up to date or fit for the purpose for which it is required. Employment Hero does not accept responsibility for any inaccuracy in such data and is not liable for any loss or damages arising either directly or indirectly as a result of reliance on, use of or inability to use any information provided in this guide. You should undertake your own research and to seek professional advice before making any decisions or relying on the information in this guide.