Classification: employee

**(b) The controlling approach and leading case**

The High Court adopted the approach set out in *Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union v Personnel Contracting Pty Ltd* (2022) 275 CLR 165 ("the *Personnel Contracting* case"), decided alongside *ZG Operations Australia Pty Ltd v Jamsek* (2022) 275 CLR 254.

Where the parties have committed the terms of their relationship to a comprehensive written contract that is not a sham and is not varied or waived, the character of the relationship is determined by reference to the **legal rights and obligations established by that contract**, construed according to ordinary principles of contract interpretation. The court does not undertake a wide-ranging review of the subsequent conduct of the parties or how the relationship played out in practice (that "multifactorial" inquiry into post-contractual conduct is displaced). The totality of the contractual rights and obligations is still assessed, with the central question being whether, by those terms, the worker is engaged to work **in the business of the engaging party** (an indicium of employment) or is carrying on a business of his own. A contractual label the parties attach to the relationship (here, "self-employed contractor") is not determinative and cannot override the legal substance of the rights created.

On the facts given — a contractual right of control over how, when and where the work is done, work directed by the company on its client's sites, no business of his own, no significant equipment supplied, and no right to delegate — the legal rights point to the worker being engaged in the company's business as an **employee**, just as in *Personnel Contracting*.

**(c) One practical consequence for the engaging business**

As the employer, the labour-hire company must meet employment obligations it would not owe to a genuine contractor — for example, it is liable to make **compulsory superannuation guarantee contributions** on the worker's behalf (12% of ordinary time earnings in FY2025-26), and is exposed to associated liabilities such as PAYG withholding, leave entitlements, minimum award wages, and penalties for any failure to satisfy these obligations.