Fair Work Act 2009 as amended by Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes No. 2) Act 2024

Article 15G. A person is a regulated worker if: (a) the person is an employee - like worker (see section 15P); or (b) the person is a regulated road transport contractor (see section 15Q). 

Article 15P (1). A person is an employee‑like worker if: (c) the work that the person performs under the services contract is digital platform work; (…) 

Article 536JD (2). An employee-like minimum standards order applies to a digital labour platform operator if: (a) the employee-like minimum standards order covers the digital labour platform operator; and (b) the employee-like minimum standards order covers employee-like workers; and (c) the digital labour platform operator: (i) directly or indirectly engages, under services contracts, employee-like workers covered by the employee-like minimum standards order who perform work through or by means of a digital labour platform operated by the digital labour platform operator; or (ii) arranges or facilitates services contracts through or by means of a digital labour platform operated by the digital labour platform operator, under which work is performed by employee-like workers covered by the employee-like minimum standards order.

Article 536MH. A collective agreement is made between a regulated business, specifically a digital labour platform operator or a road transport business, and an organisation (...) 

Article 536MK (2). A collective agreement may be made between a digital labour platform operator and an organisation that is entitled to represent the industrial interests of one or more employee-like workers, in respect of the following: (a) the terms and conditions on which employee-like workers covered by the collective agreement perform digital platform work: (i) under a services contract to which the digital labour platform operator is a party; or (ii) under a services contract arranged or facilitated through or by means of the digital labour platform operated by the digital labour platform operator.

Article 351 (1). An employer must not take adverse action against a person who is an employee, or prospective employee, of the employer because of the person’s race, colour, sex, sexual orientation, breastfeeding, gender identity, intersex status, age, physical or mental disability, marital status, family or carer’s responsibilities, subjection to family and domestic violence, pregnancy, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin.

Article 536LU. Application for unfair deactivation or unfair termination remedy. 

1. A person who has been deactivated or terminated may apply to the FWC for an order under Division 4 granting a remedy. Note 1: Division 4 sets out when the FWC may order a remedy for unfair deactivation or unfair termination. Note 2: For application fees, see section 536LV. Note 3: Part 6-1 may prevent an application being made under this Part in relation to a deactivation or termination if an application or complaint has been made in relation to the deactivation or termination other than under this Part. 

2. A person must not make an application under subsection (1) unless the sum of the person's annual rate of earnings, and such other amounts (if any) worked out in relation to the person in accordance with the regulations, is less than the contractor high income threshold. 

3. The application must be made: (a) within 21 days after the deactivation or termination took effect; or (b) within such further period as the FWC allows under subsection (4). 

4. The FWC may allow a further period for the application to be made by a person under subsection (1) if the FWC is satisfied that there are exceptional circumstances, taking into account: (a) the reason for the delay; and (b) whether the person first became aware of the deactivation or termination after it had taken effect; and (c) any action taken by the person to dispute the deactivation or termination; and (d) prejudice to the regulated business (including prejudice caused by the delay); and (e) the merits of the application; and (f) fairness as between the person and other regulated workers in a similar position; and (g) any processes specified in the Digital Labour Platform Deactivation Code or the Road Transport Industry Termination Code, as the case requires.

Article 536JX. The minimum standards objective. 

In performing a function or exercising a power under this Part, the FWC must take into account the need for an appropriate safety net of minimum standards for regulated workers, having regard to the following: 

(a) the need for standards that: (i) are clear and simple; and (ii) are fair and relevant; and (iii) recognise the perspectives of regulated workers, including their skills, the value of the work they perform and their preferences about their working arrangements; and (iv) do not change the form of the engagement of regulated workers from independent contractor to employee; and (v) do not give preference to one business model or working arrangement over another; and (vi) are tailored to the relevant industry, occupation or sector and the relevant business models; and (vii) are tailored to the type of work, working arrangements and regulated worker preferences; and (viii) reflect the differences in the form of engagement of regulated workers as independent contractors to the form of engagement of employees; and (ix) have regard to the ability of regulated workers to perform work under services contracts for multiple businesses, and the fact that the work may be performed simultaneously; 

(b) in addition to the other matters provided for in this subsection, the need for standards that deal with minimum rates of pay that: (i) take into account costs necessarily incurred by regulated workers directly arising from the performance of a services contract; and (ii) take into account safety net minimum standards that apply to employees performing comparable work; and (iii) do not change the form of the engagement of regulated workers;

(c) the need to avoid unreasonable adverse impacts upon the following: (i) sustainable competition among industry participants; (ii) business costs, regulatory burden, sustainability, innovation, productivity or viability; (iii) administrative and compliance costs for industry participants; (iv) the national economy; (v) persons or bodies that use or rely on the work performed by regulated workers, or the services received under services contracts for the performance of that work; 

(d) the need to consider other orders or instruments (however described) made under this Chapter and to avoid unnecessary overlap of such orders or instruments. This is the minimum standards objective.

Article 536LF. A person has been unfairly deactivated if the FWC is satisfied that: (a) the person has been deactivated from a digital labour platform; and (b) the deactivation was unfair; and (c) the deactivation was not consistent with the Digital Labour Platform Deactivation Code.

Article 536JV. This Part is about setting minimum standards for certain regulated workers, specifically, employee - like workers and regulated road transport contractors. (…) Division 3 empowers the FWC to make minimum standards orders for regulated workers, which set minimum standards to which they are entitled in relation to certain matters including payment terms and working time.