The Labour Hire Licensing Act 2017 (the Act) commenced on 16 April 2018. The Act establishes a mandatory licensing scheme to protect labour hire workers and support responsible labour hire providers.
How does the licensing scheme work?
All labour hire providers operating in Queensland need to be licensed under the scheme. This includes labour hire providers based interstate or overseas who supply workers in Queensland.
Licence holders are required to meet certain standards, including:
Users of labour hire must only engage licensed providers. The scheme helps users of labour hire and workers find a licensed labour hire provider through a register. There are strong penalties for operating without a licence and for using an unlicensed provider.
Who is a labour hire provider?
A labour hire provider is a person who, as part of carrying on a business, supplies labour hire workers to do work for another person or business (the labour hire user).
Examples of labour hire providers include:
- a contractor who supplies workers to a farmer or fruit grower to pick produce for the farmer or grower
- a group training organisation or principal employer organisation that supplies an apprentice or trainee to a host employer
- an employment agency that on-hires temporary administration staff to a business.
Further information for labour hire providers, including who needs to apply for a licence and obligations under the scheme, is available on the I provide labour hire page.
Any person or business who engages a labour hire provider to supply them with workers is a labour hire user. This includes engaging an intermediary to engage a labour hire provider to supply workers. In this instance, both the person who engages the intermediary and the intermediary are users of labour hire.
Other terms which might indicate a user of labour hire services include 'host employer' and 'client'.
If you have a worker or workers doing work for you or in your business that you do not directly employ, you should carefully consider if these arrangements are labour hire.
Further information for labour hire users, including obligations under the scheme, is available on the I use labour hire providers page.
How do I find out if a labour hire provider is licensed?
The register of licensees lists licensed labour hire providers. You can search for a labour hire provider by:
- business name
- ABN
- business address
- industry
- location.
You can print a verification of labour hire licence through the register of labour hire licences page.
You can also search the pending applications list to check if a labour hire provider has applied for a licence.
How is the licensing scheme enforced?
The Labour Hire Licensing Compliance Unit (LHLCU) is responsible for regulating and ensuring compliance with the licensing scheme. The LHLCU:
- promotes understanding and awareness of rights and obligations under the licensing scheme
- approves and issues licences
- monitors compliance, including undertaking audits
- investigates alleged contraventions
- works with relevant agencies to resolve complaints and alleged offences
- builds relationships with those involved in labour hire in Queensland
- reports on its activities including publishing regular updates.
Find out more about our compliance and enforcement activities.
How do I report a problem?
Report issues about a labour hire provider
If you have concerns about a labour hire provider who could be operating without a licence or is not meeting its obligations to workers, you can lodge a report.
Report a problem with your licence application
Please contact us if you are having problems with your licence application, or if you would like any further information or guidance on the scheme.
