Unfair contracts law - will it effect contract workers?

[poppy]

http://www.treasury.gov.au/documents/1537/PDF/The_Australian_Consumer_Law_Consultation_Paper.pdf

The proposed new unfair contracts law above states that it excludes employment contracts but does appear to include independent contractors as far as I can tell.

What I can't tell is if this will effect contract workers who are somewhere inbetween an employee and a true independent contractor eg most IT contractors, and not covered by laws that regular employees are protected under. eg someone who is contracted to work for a company for a fixed period via a recruitment agency, is not entitled to any leave etc, pays their own workers comp and so on, but basically just turns up from 9-5 and does the work their boss tells them to do. The kind of contractor the ATO set up the "personal services income" rules in order to ensure people couldn't avoid paying tax.

If the law will apply to such contract arrangements then either such workers will have greatly increased protections OR companies will simply stop using such contractors and go back to standard employees. My contract is filled with terms that would be considered void under these laws.

 

[Perp]

If the law will apply to such contract arrangements then either such workers will have greatly increased protections OR companies will simply stop using such contractors and go back to standard employees. My contract is filled with terms that would be considered void under these laws.

I don't read it as affecting such arrangements. It says that no particular kind of term is being precluded, simply that clauses may be required to satisfy the test of fairness.

I read it as prohibiting clauses such as one that would give the employer the right to unilaterally change pay rates, without the contract employee having the right to withdraw their services.

I really don't think it's primarily related to personal services income, nor does it sound - to me - as though it would have much (if any) impact on this domain. What makes you think that it would, poppy?

 

[poppy]

I read it as prohibiting clauses such as one that would give the employer the right to unilaterally change pay rates, without the contract employee having the right to withdraw their services.

My contract (being fairly typical I think for the industry), doesn't quite allow the employer to change the pay rate unilaterally, but it has much content that I would think would fit under the category of what would be considered unfair under these laws. The following are examples, they are not worded like this but they have the following effect:

"Employer" can terminate the contract at any time for any reason without notice. Employer is not required to pay you a cent in damages if they do this. Contractor cannot terminate the contract for any reason regardless of notice period and if contractor does so they will have to pay the amount of $XXXX in penalties.

Contractor is required to be available during any hours we want and cannot work for any other company during the hours we require them to be available. However, employer is not required to provide any minimum amount of work. Employer can stand down contractors for any length of time without pay or notice and the contractor cannot terminate the contract. However, contractor has no right to request time off for any reason during those days we want them to be available.

If during the first XX weeks of the contract employer is not satisfied with the contractor then employer can terminate immediately and does not have to pay the contractor for any of the work they performed. However, contractor does not have the same right to terminate the contract if they are not satisfied with the employer.

So I think these kinds of clauses would come under the definition of unfair under these laws, it's just a matter of whether they apply to these types of contract workers or not...