Is Your Gig Work Really Employment?
You work through an app or a contract, and are not sure if you count as an employee.
Being told “you are a contractor, so you have no claim” is one of the most common ways a gig or contract worker gets waved away. It is not always the full picture.
Does the word “contractor” in your agreement settle the question?
Not by itself. A document can call you a contractor, a partner, or a freelancer, and the Industrial Court still looks past that word to what actually happened day to day.
What decides your status is the substance of the working relationship, not the label chosen for it.
What actually decides whether you are an employee?
The real questions are practical ones. Who set your hours and rates? Could you turn down work freely, or send someone else to do it for you?
There is also the question of direction: how much did the company control the way you worked, rather than just the result you delivered? The more the answers point to control and integration into the business, the more the relationship looks like employment, whatever the paperwork says.
Why does this status matter so much?
Unfair dismissal protection under Section 20 applies to an employee under a contract of service, not to someone genuinely running their own business and simply supplying services.
If you are found to be an employee, the usual protections follow, including the same 60-day deadline to act.1 Your employer also carries the burden of proving a genuine reason for ending the arrangement.2
What if my status is genuinely unclear?
Unclear does not mean unwinnable. Many gig and contract arrangements sit closer to employment than either side expected once the actual working pattern is examined.
This is a question worth putting to a lawyer early, before assuming the contract’s label has already decided the outcome for you. The same is true if your work also involved a fixed-term contract alongside the gig arrangement.
What to do this week
Save anything that shows how your work was actually controlled: schedules, instructions, exclusivity terms, and how your pay was set and paid out.
Treat your last working day as the possible start of the 60-day clock. Work out your exact deadline while the details are still fresh, in case your status turns out to be employment.
Then get a read on your situation before assuming either outcome, since an early, honest read of how your work was arranged is worth more than guessing alone.
Whether you are an employee or a genuine contractor changes what you can claim, so the details of how your work was controlled matter most. Tell us how your work was arranged, and we can help you see where you stand.
Common questions
My contract says I am an independent contractor. Does that settle it?
No, not by itself. What the document calls you is a starting point, not the final word. The Industrial Court looks at how the work actually happened, not only the label written on the page.
What if I get work through an app or platform?
Working through an app does not automatically make you self-employed or an employee. What matters more is how much control the platform has over your hours, your rates and how the work is done.
Can I claim unfair dismissal once I am found to be an employee?
Yes. Once you are treated as an employee covered by the Industrial Relations Act, the same unfair dismissal protections apply to you, including the same deadline to act.
What if I have done the same gig work for years?
A long, steady working relationship, with set hours or little freedom to work elsewhere, is one of the things that can point toward employment rather than genuine self-employment. It is worth raising early with a lawyer.
Will raising this cost me anything if my status turns out unclear?
Raising it costs a conversation, not a commitment. A lawyer can look at how your work was actually arranged and tell you honestly whether it looks like employment before anything is filed.
Sources
- An employee who considers they were dismissed without just cause or excuse may make a written representation to the Director General of Industrial Relations, asking to be reinstated, within 60 days of the dismissal (Section 20, Industrial Relations Act 1967). Mah Weng Kwai & Associates, Unfair Dismissal
- The burden of proving just cause and excuse for a dismissal rests with the employer, not the employee, once the claim reaches the Industrial Court. Mah Weng Kwai & Associates, Unfair Dismissal
Keep reading
Whether you are an employee or a genuine contractor changes what you can claim, so the details of how your work was controlled matter most. Tell us how your work was arranged, and we can help you see where you stand.