CFMMEU v Personnel Contracting Pty Ltd

CFMMEU v Personnel Contracting
Court	High Court of Australia
Decided	9 February 2022
Citation(s)	[2022] HCA 1, 398 ALR 404
Court membership
Judge(s) sitting	Kiefel CJ, Gageler, Keane, Gordon, Edelman, Steward and Gleeson JJ

CFMMEU v Personnel Contracting Pty Ltd [2022] HCA 1 is an Australian labour law case of the High Court of Australia on the employment relationship between an individual who signed a contract for services and a labour hire organisation. The High Court departed from the approach widely taken by lower courts in holding a "multi-factorial" approach to determining an employment relationship. The High Court found that the totality of the circumstances was not always the correct approach for identifying whether an individual was engaged as an employee or independent contractor. Rather, the contents of a contract may instead indicate the relationship. The High Court found the worker at the centre of the dispute between the parties was an employee of the labour hire agency for whom he had worked, rather than an independent contractor. The judgment means worker relationships will be defined by the terms of their contract.