Important legislative changes for organisations that use labour hire workers

The Employment Relations (Triangular Employment) Amendment Act 2019 (the Act) received royal assent on 27 June 2019. The Act's provision will take effect on 27 June 2020, or a date appointed by the Governor-General by Order in Council, whichever is earlier.

The Act will mean that organisations who source and contract workers through labour hire companies could be liable for grievances raised by those workers, even though there is no contract of employment between the two parties. Its provisions allow the Employment Relations Authority or Employment Court to join a party to personal grievance proceedings, where that party benefits from the labour of another organisation it has engaged, and where it exercises control or direction over the labour hire workers, akin to that of an employer.