Independent Contractors Act 2006 to come into force on 1 March 2007 - Blake Dawson Waldron Lawyers
In late 2006, the Independent Contractors Act 2006 (Cth) (Act), and associated amendments to the Workplace Relations Act 1996, passed through Federal parliament. The Act and the Independent Contractors Regulations 2007 will come into effect on 1 March 2007.
The Act is a further stage in the Federal Government's program of workplace reform. Like the earlier Work Choices legislation, the Act is founded on the corporations power in the Constitution, and will apply to "services contracts" where one party is a constitutional corporation or the Commonwealth, or where the contract relates to work in a Territory.
Key features of the Act are the exclusion of State and Territory laws which provide employee status or employee like entitlements to independent contractors, and the establishment of a national services contract review scheme.
As over half of all IT professionals are independent contractors, the Act will undoubtedly have a significant impact on the information technology industry. For more details about the Act see our Industrial Relations & Employment Alerts of June 2006 and December 2006.
