Know Your Rights
Contractor or employee, award pay, leave, notice and super — the floor the law sets, whichever side you're on.
Whether you're taking on a hand or working under someone else, the law sets a floor nobody can contract out of — what you're paid, the leave you build up, the notice you're owed, and the super that's yours. Calling a job "contracting" doesn't dodge it. Here's where you stand.
Employee or contractor?
It's not whatever the contract calls it. The ATO and Fair Work weigh the whole relationship — control, who carries the risk, whether the work can be subcontracted, how it's paid — to decide whether someone's really an employee. Labelling an employee a "contractor" to skip super and leave is sham contracting, and it's against the law. Check which side of the line a working arrangement sits.
The least you can be paid
Almost every construction job sits under an award that sets minimum rates, allowances and penalties, with the national minimum wage as the absolute floor underneath. Underpaying — even by accident — gets clawed back, with penalties on top. Check the rate against the award, or ring the Fair Work Ombudsman on 13 13 94.
Leave and the NES
The National Employment Standards give employees paid annual and personal leave and a cap on ordinary weekly hours; casuals trade leave for a loading on their rate instead. Work out what's accrued so holiday pay and sick days come out right.
Notice — ending it properly
Notice cuts both ways and scales with how long someone's been on, with a bit extra for older workers. Get it right and a parting stays clean; get it wrong and it's an unfair-dismissal claim waiting to happen.
Super is your money, not a favour
Super isn't a bonus — it's a legal entitlement on top of wages, paid at least quarterly (and on payday from 1 July 2026). Pay it late or short and the Super Guarantee Charge bites, and it isn't deductible. Check what's owed on every pay run.