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Posts Tagged ‘independent contractors’

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A Worker Who Would Rather Be a Contractor than an Employee

Have you ever had a worker who would prefer to contract with you rather than be your employee? They have an ABN and may even have their own service company which invoices for the services provided. So when will it be a problem?

Well, when it comes to independent contractors, issues often arise with workers compensation, pay-roll tax and compulsory superannuation payments. You might think you have those issues covered (perhaps by assuming responsibility for these obligations yourself). But the difficulty is that contractors don’t have access to many of the minimum entitlements provided for in the Fair Work Act or under awards.

Therefore, the Fair Work Act makes it an offence for you to tell a worker they are a contractor if they are an employee in the eyes of the law. If you are prosecuted for this offence, you could be penalised up to $33,000 (if you are a corporation).

You will have a defence if you didn’t know that the agreement was an employment agreement, but you cannot have been “reckless” to that fact.

What is being “reckless”?

CONTINUE READING

By Charles Power posted October 20th 2009

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Merry Christmas from the Workplace Bulletin!

In this week’s Workplace Bulletin:

  • 2008 in Review: Part Two
  • Quick Tip of the Week: Run regular fire drill procedures
  • Workplace Helpdesk Q and A: Can an employee be both a casual and a part-time employee?

Dear Reader,

Following on from last weeks 2008 In Review edition of the Workplace Bulletin, this week we continue with four more important developments your business should take on board from 2008.

  • Redundancy – More employers will become obliged to pay severance pay in 2010. You also need to be aware of the fact that, in 2009, unfair dismissal laws will once again apply to retrenchments.
  • Privacy – Over the next 5 years, employers will most likely become subject to greater regulation in the manner that they collect and handle personal information about their employees. As such, you and your organisations will need to prepare for these changes.
  • Independent Contractors – Converting workers into contractors despite the fact that they do the same work as employees will attract greater risk under the recently introduced workplace relations laws. You will need to review your contractor agreements and implement safeguards for managing your contractor relationships.
  • Protecting Your Business from Ex-Employees – Cases involving ex-employees seeking to exploit your trade secrets and goodwill are on the rise. There are safeguards that can be implemented to protect your business, and you should look into putting them into practice.

CONTINUE READING

By Claire Berry posted December 23rd 2008

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