No holidays, sick leave and superannuation is the plight facing up to 50,000 Australian builders who are improperly employed as contractors instead of permanent staff.
Research conducted by the Federal Governement’s Fair Work Building and Construction inspectorate has found up to 13 per cent of the nation’s building workers employed on ”sham contracts”. This means they are working in conditions identical to being a permanent employee – but are being paid as if they are an independent contractor providing a service for a fee.
Hiring a worker who should be a permanent staff member on a sham contract is illegal, because it allows the employer to avoid paying superannuation and leave, and to avoid the risk of hiring permanent staff.
Construction industry employer groups say this type of illegal contracting is not widespread.
But unions believe illegal contracting is rife in Australia, particularly in construction.
Leigh Johns, chief executive of the Fair Work Building and Construction authority that commissioned the research, estimated that 50,000 workers in construction could be on sham contracts.
”This means they are missing out on entitlements like annual and sick leave and their employer making superannuation contributions,” he said.
The research finds that 9 per cent of all contractors in construction are working for one employer only. And the practice of illegally contracting instead of hiring permanent staff has become particularly prevalent among non-English speaking workers.
