Australia has reached an important milestone in the regulation of the gig economy.
From 17 August 2026, new minimum standards apply to certain on-demand delivery workers engaged through digital labour platforms. The Interim On-Demand Delivery Employee-like Worker Minimum Standards Order is the first order of its kind made by the Fair Work Commission.
While the immediate changes primarily affect app-based delivery platforms and their workers, the development has wider implications for Australian businesses using contractors, digital platforms and other non-traditional workforce models.
What has changed?
The Fair Work Commission now has powers under the Fair Work Act to establish minimum standards for certain categories of workers who are contractors rather than employees.
These workers are known as regulated workers and include certain:
Importantly, these workers do not automatically become employees. They continue to perform work under services contracts, but minimum standards orders can create legally enforceable rights and obligations that apply to workers and the businesses engaging them.
The first major application of this framework is the new Interim On-Demand Delivery Employee-like Worker Minimum Standards Order, made by the Fair Work Commission on 11 August and commencing on 17 August 2026.
It covers eligible employee-like workers engaged through apps who primarily undertake on-demand delivery of items such as food, beverages and supermarket groceries, together with the digital labour platform operators engaging them.
What do the new standards cover?
The new order establishes minimum standards across a range of aspects of the working relationship.
These include matters relating to minimum rates, vehicle costs, consultation, recordkeeping, insurance, dispute resolution, information sharing and time away from work.
This is significant because traditionally an independent contractor's pay and conditions have largely been determined by their commercial contract rather than the employment protections applying to employees.
That distinction has not disappeared.
What has changed is that Australia now has a regulatory framework capable of establishing enforceable minimum standards for particular groups of contractors where they fall within the regulated-worker provisions of the Fair Work Act.
Why businesses outside food delivery should pay attention
For most SMEs, resource companies, not-for-profits and professional services businesses, the new delivery-worker order will not directly change the arrangements they have with ordinary independent contractors.
However, the direction of travel is important.
The Fair Work Commission can establish minimum standards for employee-like digital platform workers and regulated road transport contractors. Separate processes are also underway within the road transport framework, including work concerning last-mile delivery and contractual chains.
This means organisations should be increasingly cautious about assuming that describing someone as an "independent contractor" determines the entire regulatory relationship.
The broader workplace relations framework now distinguishes between employees, conventional independent contractors and particular categories of regulated workers.
Contractor classification still matters
The gig-worker reforms also sit alongside other changes to Australia's contractor laws.
Since August 2024, the Fair Work Act has contained a revised approach for determining whether many workers are employees or independent contractors. The assessment can require consideration of the real substance, practical reality and true nature of the relationship, including how the contract is actually performed in practice.
For businesses, this makes workforce design increasingly important.
A contractor arrangement should not simply be a standard template issued because engaging someone as a contractor is administratively convenient.
Organisations should understand:
The bigger issue: Australia's workforce models are becoming more complex
The traditional choice between an employee and an independent contractor is becoming less straightforward.
Businesses increasingly use combinations of permanent employees, casuals, labour hire, consultants, independent contractors, digital platforms, outsourced service providers and technology-enabled workforces.
Each model can provide legitimate flexibility.
But flexibility needs to be supported by appropriate governance.
For organisations using significant contractor workforces, particularly in transport, logistics, resources, construction, maintenance and other operational industries, workforce structure should form part of broader workforce planning rather than being treated solely as a procurement decision.
What should businesses do now?
For businesses that use contractors, this is a good opportunity to review the workforce model before a problem arises.
A practical review should consider:
1. Who is actually working as a contractor?
Create visibility over contractor arrangements across the organisation rather than leaving them dispersed between operations, procurement, finance and HR.
2. Why are they contractors?
Determine whether there is a genuine commercial reason for the arrangement or whether the role has gradually developed characteristics more consistent with employment.
3. What does the contract say—and what happens in practice?
The documentation and the actual working relationship need to align.
4. Could regulated-worker rules apply?
Businesses operating digital labour platforms or engaging workers within relevant road transport arrangements should specifically consider the new framework.
5. Who owns contractor governance?
HR, procurement, operations and finance often manage different parts of the relationship. Someone should have overall accountability for ensuring the workforce model remains appropriate.
A workforce-planning issue, not just a compliance issue
The most useful lesson from the gig-worker reforms is broader than compliance.
Organisations need to become more deliberate about how work gets done.
Before recruiting another employee or engaging another contractor, businesses should ask:
What capability do we need, how long do we need it for, how should the work be structured, and what is the most appropriate workforce model to deliver it?
That conversation brings together workforce planning, organisational design, HR, procurement and risk management.
The new gig-worker standards are another indication that workforce structures which may once have been treated as simple commercial arrangements are receiving greater regulatory attention.
For Australian businesses, particularly those relying heavily on contractors and contingent labour, now is a sensible time to review whether their workforce model remains both commercially effective and appropriately governed.
Evolve Corporate Solutions works with organisations to strengthen workforce planning, organisational design, HR governance and employment practices. Businesses with significant contractor, labour-hire or contingent workforces should periodically review whether their workforce structure, contracts and operating practices remain fit for purpose.
This article provides general information and should not be relied upon as legal advice.