An overview of legal procedure & case law
An employer must not dismiss, or threaten to dismiss, an individual who:
- is an employee of the employer; and
- performs particular work for the employer;
in order to engage the individual as an independent contractor to perform the same, or substantially the same, work under a contract for services.
An employer cannot dismiss an employee so that the former employee can be engaged as an independent contractor. For the protection to apply the dismissal must occur with the intent to subsequently re-engage the employee as if they were an independent contractor.[1]
An employer must not dismiss their existing staff and make them get ABNs and operate as independent contractors to perform the same jobs because it will be cheaper for the employer.
There are no exceptions.