The new Queensland Labour Hire Laws commenced on Monday 16 April 2018 which established a mandatory licensing scheme for anyone providing labour hire in Queensland and requires anyone using labour hire to only use licensed providers.
If you are caught by this legislation then you will have until 15 June 2018 to apply for a licence.
Who needs to be licensed?
All labour hire providers will need to be licensed. Labour hire providers supply workers to work for another business or person (the labour hire user), the workers are paid by the labour hire provider for the work they do.
If you supply a worker or workers to work for another business or person, you should consider whether you are operating as a labour hire provider. If you are, you need to be licensed.
Thankfully, the Regulations have now been released which narrows the definition of ‘worker’ and provides a number of prescribed employees, who will not be labour hire employees. The prescribed employees will be:-
- A high income employeewho earns more than the Fair Work Act high income threshold (currently $142,000 per annum) and is not covered by an industrial award or agreement.
- An executive officer of a corporation who is the only employee supplied to perform work.
- An employee who is employed by an ’employing/service entity’ within a business group and works only for and within that single recognisable business.
- An ‘in-house employee’ who temporarily works for another person or business. An ‘in-house employee’ is defined in the Labour Hire Licensing Regulation 2018.
There are a number of examples of labour hire providers available on the Labour Hire Queensland website https://www.labourhire.qld.gov.au and there will be industry specific factsheets available over the coming weeks to further assist businesses in determining whether they need to be licensed.
How much will a licence cost?
The recently released regulations have also confirmed the licensing fees which are structured in a tier system and are as follows:-
| Tier | Description of business | Licence fee |
| Tier 1 business | wages (or projected wages) of less than $1.5 million | $1,000 |
| Tier 2 business | wages (or projected wages) more than $1.5 million but less than $5 million | $3,000 |
| Tier 3 business | wages (or projected wages) more than $5 million | $5,000 |
How do you apply for a licence?
You will need to register an account on https://www.labourhire.qld.gov.au and the application will be completed on the website.
You will need to have ready the information required to complete the application which includes:-
- details on the labour hire provider, including contact details;
- details on any other services provided to labour hire workers and details on the industries in which the business provides workers;
- details of the applicant(s), executive officers, and nominated officer(s) information about whether the applicant and other relevant officers are fit and proper to hold a labour hire licence;
- information about the financial viability of the business;
- other information about compliance with laws associated with labour hire providers’ obligations; and
- information about compliance with safety and workers’ compensation laws (including the labour hire providers’ WorkCover Queensland accident insurance policy number).
What do you do now?
You need to establish whether you are a labour hire provider under the laws. If you are a business who uses labour hire you should also be taking steps to ensure that all providers to your business are taking steps to comply.
There are a range of offences under the laws which carry heavy penalties including potential imprisonment or fines so you must ensure that you are complying.
Remember – if you are a labour hire provider under the new laws then you MUST lodge your application for a licence before 15 June 2018 to continue operating.
If you are unsure whether you are caught by the new Labour Hire licensing laws or need assistance in lodging your application for a licence then please contact our team.
