• Licensing information

Labour hire businesses must provide a range of information to the Labour Hire Authority (LHA) at the point of application and throughout the course of their licence.

This information supports LHA’s work in protecting workers and improving industry transparency and integrity, by providing visibility of labour hire operations and the people responsible.

Under the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2018 (Vic), significant penalties and compliance actions may result from failing to provide certain types of information or notifications, which must also be accurate and timely.

During the licence application process, LHA will often make a Request for Information (RFI) from an applicant via the Labour Hire Licensing Online (LHLO) portal, to clarify aspects of the application.

Where this occurs, it is important for the company’s nominated officer to provide all requested information in a timely manner. A failure to provide information to the satisfaction of LHA may lead to refusal of the application.

Unsatisfactory responses to a request for information

LHA recently refused a licence application in the transport, postal and warehousing industry for failing to provide a satisfactory response to an RFI.

The initial assessment of the application identified a number of concerns, including:

• the capacity of the nominated officer to ensure compliance with legal obligations
• whether an individual identified in assessment of the application met the definition of a relevant person
• whether one or more other people involved in decision-making within the business were not included in the application as relevant persons.

An RFI was sent to the applicant, requesting information and evidence of:

• whether other people made decisions affecting a substantial part of the business
• the applicant’s business model
• the applicant’s plan to ensure compliance with relevant obligations
• financial statements and reports
• details of the industrial agreement that would determine the terms and conditions of employment of their workers.

The applicant did not respond to the RFI, leading LHA to issue a Notice of Intention to Refuse.

When the applicant did not respond to this notice, LHA refused the application on the basis of their failure to provide all requested information to the satisfaction of LHA.

More information

Find out more about Requests for Information, and how to respond to them, on the LHA website.