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Do you use Labour Hire workers?
Labour hire by design is typically seen as having workers at arms-length to the business from an employment perspective. This allows for the quick recruitment and termination of workers without the hassle of employment contracts.
We know from a Health & Safety perspective that we need to treat labour hire workers like any other worker i.e. understand their competencies, manage the risks, provide appropriate inductions, training, etc.
There has been an employment law change (27/06/2020) that will impact you if you use labour hire.
The change allows controlling third parties (i.e. you the client) to be joined to personal grievance claims brought by employees against their employer (the labour hire company) - if the personal grievance relates to an action alleged to have happened while the employee was working for you.
You the client, would need to participate in any legal proceedings arising from the personal grievance, including attending mediation. You may also be liable to pay some or all of any remedies which are awarded.
We recommend not acting sloppily or cutting corners when dealing with issues such as investigating incidents or complaints involving the labour hire workers. You should not assume that simply because the worker is not your employee that you are protected from potential claims.
Instead, act fairly and reasonably with all individuals working for your business. We suggest that using the health & safety term of ‘worker’ and treating everyone the same regarding health & safety risk, you should be just fine.
This applies to contractors too. We appreciate that employers do get nervous with the link to IRD and whether someone is an employee or contractor. However, under the Health & Safety at Work Act 2015, there is no difference as there is only one term of ‘worker’. This covers full-time and part-time employees, work trial, volunteers, contractors, subcontractors – basically anyone who you have control and influence over.
We do a lot of work in the labour supply space and are more than happy to answer your questions.
