Labour hire licensing Queensland: OIR scheme under the 2017 Act

What it is

Queensland introduced a mandatory labour hire licensing scheme in 2018 under the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2017 (Qld). The scheme is administered by Labour Hire Licensing Queensland, a unit inside the Office of Industrial Relations (OIR). Any person who provides labour hire services in Queensland generally needs a current licence before workers can be supplied.

Residential builders are exposed in two ways. If your business supplies workers to others, you are likely a provider and must be licensed. If you engage labour hire to fill out a crew, you are a host and must only use a licensed provider. The Act also captures avoidance arrangements, so dressing labour hire up as a contract for services does not defeat the scheme.

Who is a provider

Section 7 of the Act defines a provider broadly as a person who, in the course of carrying on a business, supplies a worker to another person to do work, where the provider is responsible for paying the worker. The definition picks up labour-only subcontract arrangements that have the substance of labour hire even where the paperwork says otherwise.

A handful of arrangements are excluded under the Labour Hire Licensing Regulation 2018 (Qld), including some in-house secondments and certain professional service arrangements. The Regulation should be checked carefully before a residential builder decides it sits outside the scheme.

Common residential triggers

• A trade business placing its own employees on other builders sites under that builders direction
• Group training organisations supplying apprentices to host residential builders
• Workforce hire businesses supplying labourers, carpenters or formworkers on a per-hour or per-day basis

Fit and proper person test

Each applicant and each executive officer or nominee must satisfy the fit and proper person test under section 28 of the Act. The chief executive considers matters including past licence refusals or cancellations in Queensland or interstate, disciplinary history under statutory licences, insolvency events, disqualification from managing corporations under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and any control by another person who is not fit and proper.

Applications are made online and supported by Form 4 Fit and proper person declaration. False or misleading information is itself an offence under section 89 of the Act.

Financial viability and capacity

Beyond the fit and proper person test, applicants must show they can meet financial obligations to workers, including wages, superannuation, tax and workers compensation premiums. Recent insolvency, unpaid worker entitlements or breaches of workplace laws are weighed by the chief executive when deciding whether to grant the licence.

Fees and reporting

The Queensland scheme uses a tiered fee structure linked to the providers total wages paid in the relevant period. Fees are set by the Labour Hire Licensing Regulation 2018 and indexed each financial year. A licence remains in force for 12 months from the day it is granted, and providers must apply to renew before expiry.

Licensees must lodge a six-monthly compliance report through the online portal covering the workers supplied, hosts, hours worked, wages, accommodation arrangements and any breaches of workplace laws notified to the licensee. Failure to lodge on time is a ground for action against the licence.

Host duties

Section 11 makes it an offence for a person to enter into an arrangement for the supply of workers with an unlicensed provider in Queensland. Penalty units apply to both individuals and corporations. The Act also creates an offence for avoidance arrangements designed to disguise labour hire as something else.

Before engaging a labour hire provider, residential builders in Queensland should:

• Search the public register at labourhire.qld.gov.au by ABN or licence number
• Record the licence number and expiry on the purchase order or subcontract
• Re-check the register before any new engagement
• Treat suspensions or cancellations as a stop-work trigger for that supplier

A host that, before entering into the arrangement, checked the public register and reasonably believed the provider was licensed has a defence available under the Act.

Enforcement

The Office of Industrial Relations runs inspections and audits, can issue compliance notices, can suspend or cancel a licence and can commence prosecutions in the Magistrates Court or Industrial Magistrates Court. The public register published at labourhire.qld.gov.au shows current, suspended and cancelled licences so hosts can confirm status in real time.

Residential builders who run a single payroll for direct employees do not need a labour hire licence for that work. The risk arises when a related entity, a service trust or a labour-only subcontract supplies workers to the head contractor. That structure should be tested against the QLD definition before any new engagement.

Practical playbook

Decide whether your structure makes you a provider, a host or both. Providers should apply early because the OIR can take weeks to complete a fit and proper person and financial viability assessment. Hosts should bake a register check into subcontractor onboarding so a lapsed licence cannot reach site without being flagged in the system.