From all of us here at the Labour Hire Authority, we would like to wish you a very happy holiday season and a wonderful new year.
The Authority will remain open over the festive season, except on the following days:
Labour hire licensing applies to all industries. If you supply one or more workers to perform work in and as part of a business or undertaking of another person, you are likely to be a labour hire provider.
Our website was recently updated to include more scenarios across various industries. These scenarios can be found via the following links.
You should consider your particular circumstances when determining whether you require a labour hire licence.
If you supply workers to work as a cleaner in a commercial premises you are likely providing labour hire services and will require a licence. Here are some scenarios in a cleaning setting.
The Authority thanks everyone who applied for a labour hire licence by the end of the six-month transition period. The Authority will prioritise the assessment of these 3841 applications.
The Authority is aware there are existing providers who fully intend to comply with the Act and wish to obtain a licence but were not able to apply by the end of the transition period. It is vital to the success of the licensing scheme that all providers who are compliant with their legal obligations and who express an intention to continue to provide labour hire services in Victoria in accordance with labour hire laws are licensed.
It is for this reason the Authority has decided that, where a complete application is submitted to the Authority before midnight on 31 December 2019, and there is no evidence of non-compliance, it will not take enforcement action against a provider for providing services without a licence, or a host who enters into an arrangement with that provider.
This approach is in accordance with the guiding principles set out in the Authority’s Compliance and Enforcement Policy which is available on the Authority’s website and our key objective of protecting workers from exploitation, while operating in a fair and proportionate manner.
The end of the transition period was commemorated by Minister for Industrial Relations, Tim Pallas and Labour Hire Licensing Commissioner, Steve Dargavel. You can find the Victorian Government media release here.
The Labour Hire Authority received 3841 licence applications during the six-month transition period - 37 percent of applications were submitted in the last 48 hours.
During the transition period the Authority spoke with thousands of providers and hosts across Victoria through over 120 forums and stakeholder engagement sessions, conducted two advertising campaigns and attended to over 7,000 phone calls assisting businesses with their applications.
The Authority is pleased to advise that we are continuing to implement a range of improvements to our website.
The Authority has received a large number of applications. We are continuing to carefully assess applications to improve integrity in the labour hire sector.
We unable to provide a time frame to assess an application because each application varies.
Application assessment speed has been impacted significantly because many applicants have not provided the required information.
Applications lodged before 30 October 2019 will be prioritised and applicants can continue to trade as labour hire providers until their application has been assessed.
The labour hire licensing scheme was established in response to the independent Victorian Inquiry into the Labour Hire Industry and Insecure Work, which found significant evidence of exploitation of workers in the labour hire sector.
Labour hire licensing was introduced with the objectives of protecting workers from exploitation and improving the transparency and integrity of the labour hire industry.
The scheme seeks to achieve a level playing field, so that labour providers do not face unfair competition from unscrupulous operators, and workers are not subject to exploitation.
Unfortunately, some organisations are requiring all their service providers to obtain labour hire licences without considering whether the arrangement is for the provision of labour hire services, and in some circumstances hosts are requiring their service providers to provide confirmation that a labour hire licence is not necessary.
Hosts should refer to the Authority’s website, the Act and Regulations to consider whether their own arrangements are for the provision of labour hire services.
Applicants must declare they comply with a range of existing laws as part of a labour hire licence application. These are not new legal obligations created by the labour hire licensing scheme. These are current legal obligations such as paying taxes and superannuation and providing a safe place to work.
To help providers and hosts follow existing Victorian and Commonwealth laws, here are some helpful links.
Sham contracting is an arrangement where an employer attempts to disguise an employment relationship as an independent contracting arrangement.
Persons or organisations who have an interest in the protection of workers or the integrity of the labour hire industry (Interested Persons) may make an objection to a licence application or renewal within 14 days of notice of the application being published on the Authority’s website.
Our website provides a range of scope scenarios to help give you an idea of what is and is not labour hire. These scenarios have been developed in response to your feedback and will be progressively updated.
You can find a range of scenarios through these links:
These examples are for illustrative purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. You should consider your particular circumstances when determining whether you require a labour hire licence. If you are unsure, you should seek legal advice.
As part of the application for a labour hire licence, the Authority asks for information from providers about the total number of workers they supplied to hosts in the 12 months before the date of the application, or expect to supply to hosts during the 12 month period after a licence comes into forces.
The Authority may require additional information depending on the circumstances.
You can find examples of what information is required here: download PDF.
The Authority is working on the implementation of a search function for the Received Labour Hire Application public register.
The Authority will also post a list of applications which have been provisionally granted, subject to the payment of the annual licence fee.
Since applications opened on 29 April, the Authority has noticed that many labour hire providers have made simple mistakes in their applications which has caused delays.
Thank you to the many labour hire providers who have already applied for a licence.
Providers benefit from submitting complete applications early because:
Trustees must be the applicants for trusts
When applying for a licence on behalf of a trust, the applicant must be a natural person or an organisation, not the trust.
This is because a trust is a relationship, not a legal entity, and cannot be an applicant for a licence or a licensee, if the application is successful.
Click 'Read More' to view scenarios of individuals and corporations acting as trustees and applying for a licence.
Since applications opened on 29 April, the Labour Hire Authority (Authority) has noticed that many labour hire providers have made simple mistakes in their applications which has caused delays.
To help applicants gather the information needed to complete a licence application the Authority has put together a helpful application guide checklist. Please use the guide to ensure that everything is provided in the application for us to complete the assessment of your application.
You can view the most significant causes of delayed assessments by clicking 'Read More'.
From 30 October 2019, hosts must only use licensed labour hire providers or providers that have applied for a licence and it has not been refused.
Click on 'Read More' to find out about changes to the labour hire licence application online portal, host lists and enforceable undertakings.
The Authority will continue to provide information sessions about the labour hire licensing scheme across metropolitan and regional Victoria.
The following are scheduled in August.
The Victorian Labour Hire Licensing Scheme has now commenced.
The Minister for Industrial Relations Tim Pallas announced the beginning of the scheme today, aimed at making the labour hire system fairer for workers, businesses and providers.
Today the Minister for Industrial Relations Tim Pallas and the Labour Hire Licensing Commissioner Steve Dargavel announced the commencement of the labour hire licensing scheme on 29 April 2019.