Does it Pass the Smell Test? When a Contractor is Actually an Employee.
In Episode 13 of our Employment Law for the Time Poor podcast, Professor Andrew Stewart and Emily Haar consider four recent cases on the vexed issue of whether a worker is an independent contractor or an employee.
As the cases reveal, there are two competing views as to how the multi-factor test is to be applied: does the Court need to look at the substance and reality of the relationship, or do the contractual arrangements reveal the parties’ true intentions about the relationship? To what degree does the “contractor” have to be running a business of their own to legally be an independent contractor?
Professor Andrew Stewart and Emily Haar consider the viability of the “Odco” system of treating labour hire workers as contractors and whether the High Court will be tasked to determine which of the two competing views is the correct method of applying the multi-factor test.
This is an area that is rife with risk for organisations, and knowing the current state of the law is a must-do.
We discuss the following four cases in this podcast episode:
We use cookies on our website. Some of them are essential for the operation of the site, while others help us to improve this site and the user experience (tracking cookies). You can decide for yourself whether you want to allow cookies or not. Please note that if you reject them, you may not be able to use all the functionalities of the site.
