Using labour hire in NSW: the 2026 due-diligence checklist

When you bring in workers through a labour hire or on-hire arrangement, the provider is the employer, but the risk does not stop at their door. Underpayment claims, sham contracting findings, workers comp gaps, and WHS incidents all have a habit of landing on the host’s desk too, in cost, in disruption, and in reputation. Here is the due-diligence we recommend running on any provider before their workers walk onto your site.

The seven checks

• 1. Licensing and authorisation. Confirm the provider is licensed or authorised to supply on-hire labour in your state, and ask for the evidence rather than the assurance. MyGig operates as an authorised provider in NSW, WA, TAS, and NT; see our compliance page for how that is structured.
• 2. Who is the legal employer? Get it in writing. If the provider says the workers are independent contractors doing employee-shaped shift work, that is a sham-contracting red flag, and hosts get named in those claims.
• 3. Award compliance you can audit. Ask which award and classification each role is paid under and how penalties are calculated. A provider who cannot cite the clause is guessing. Current casual rates for every award are public: check them against our award rate references.
• 4. Workers compensation. Confirm the provider holds a current policy covering the on-hired workers, in the right state, and get the certificate of currency.
• 5. Statutory payroll obligations. Superannuation at 12%, PAYG withholding, and Single Touch Payroll reporting sit with the employer. Ask how and when super is remitted; “quarterly, eventually” is a warning sign.
• 6. Transparent pricing. Insist on a rate card that separates the award wage, on-costs, and the provider’s margin. Buried margins are how a compliant-looking hourly rate hides an underpaying wage. Run any quote through our savings calculator.
• 7. WHS and induction. Hosts owe on-hired workers the same duty of care as their own staff. Agree who inducts, who supervises, and how incidents are reported before the first shift, not after the first incident.

Make it someone’s job, once

None of these checks is hard; the failure mode is that nobody owns them. Put the seven questions in your procurement template and re-run them annually, because licences lapse, insurers change, and providers restructure. Or use a platform where the compliance layer is the product: MyGig employs every worker directly as the Employer of Record, carries the insurance, remits the super, and prices every shift with the award clause cited. Here is how it works.