Labour hire licence WA: how to check a provider
Western Australia runs a licensing scheme, and the register is free, public and searchable. If you engage an unlicensed provider in a state that requires one, the exposure is yours as much as theirs, so it is worth the ninety seconds.
The register
- Who runs it
- Consumer Protection, Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety
- Where
- https://www.consumerprotection.wa.gov.au/employment-agents Free, and no account needed.
- Search by
- licensee name
- Who needs a licence
- Employment agents under the Employment Agents Act 1976. A different scheme from labour hire licensing, and labour hire companies are exempt from it.
Checking properly takes two steps, not one
Finding the name is the easy part. Two things catch people out:
- Check the status, not just the presence. A licence that has lapsed is functionally no licence at all.
- Search the legal entity, not the trading name. Registers list the company that holds the licence, which is very often not the name on the website or the invoice. Get the ABN and search that instead. This is the single most common reason a search comes back empty for a provider who is perfectly compliant.
Keep a dated note of what you saw. If it is ever disputed, "we checked on this date and the register said this" is the record that matters.
Common questions
How do I check if a labour hire provider is licensed in Western Australia?
Consumer Protection, Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety publishes a free public register at https://www.consumerprotection.wa.gov.au/employment-agents. You can search it by licensee name. It costs nothing and needs no account.
Who needs a labour hire licence in Western Australia?
Employment agents under the Employment Agents Act 1976. A different scheme from labour hire licensing, and labour hire companies are exempt from it.
If you work for one of these providers
Whether your employer holds a licence is their problem. Yours is the stack of tickets they keep asking you to re-send. Register once and we hold them, track every expiry date and chase you before one lapses, whichever agency you are working through this month.