A large percentage of organizations are unaware they are directly affected by the new Victorian requirement to hold a Labour Hire Licence, or that their business is required to be monitoring labour hire licenses of their service providers.
Does your business contract the services of labour providers to obtain manpower for your enterprise? Do you supply labour to another employer? If you answered yes to either question, then you need to further investigate your responsibilities under the Labour Hire Authority to hold a labour hire license, otherwise you as the labour supplier or you as the user of labour could face fines of up to $500 000.
Many industries including Hospitality, Cleaning and Security companies which supply labour to other businesses do not consider themselves to be a labour hire company, but must as of 30th October 2019 are required to hold a licence under this program.
As an example…
ABC company runs a weekly farmers market and employs 50 staff. Twenty of these staff are cleaners and on market day a cleaner calls in sick. XYZ labour hire company is called and has a cleaner supplied to cover the staff member away sick. Classic labour hire relationship!
Let’s look at this another way…
ABC company runs a weekly farmers market and employs 30 staff. ABC company requests staff via XYZ Cleaning company to provide 20 staff each week to provide cleaning services. The cleaning staff wear XYZ uniforms and are paid directly by XYZ Cleaning company.
Classic labour hire relationship? Not in this case. A labour hire licence is required to be applied for/held by XYZ Cleaning company, and ABC company is required to ensure that the labour hire providers are licensed under the system.
Being unable to meet fit and proper person tests, facing fines of up to $500 000, having your business ineligible to hold a licence and be unable to provide labour are just a few of the repercussions for not taking this new process seriously.
In you’re unsure if this is a requirement for your business, it is recommended to review the Labour Hire Authority website and check.
https://labourhireauthority.vic.gov.au/
Late licence applications…
Providers who submit a complete application by midnight 31 December 2019, and there is no evidence of non-compliance, may continue to operate until their application is assessed.
Still unsure or have a specific query? The following enquiries email is known for being quite helpful in answering queries in a prompt manner:
enquiries@labourhireauthority.vic.gov.au
This article was kindly provided by member Konnect Employment.
