Contractor or employee? Prepare a status enquiry

01 / Practical step

Explain who contracted with whom

Identify the people and entities named in the agreement, who receives the work and who makes payments. Include an agency or intermediary if one exists. Record the start date and later changes to the arrangement. If you work through your own company, tell the adviser rather than substituting your personal name. The correct parties matter when deciding what information to obtain and what advice is being requested.

02 / Practical step

Describe a normal working week

Prepare examples of how work is allocated, when and where it happens, who supplies tools and how changes are approved. Describe what actually happens when you cannot do a task, without adapting the facts to a checklist you found online. The Fair Work Ombudsman notes that different approaches to identifying employment can apply and directs people to legal help where necessary. Ask how the current rules apply to your dates and circumstances.

03 / Practical step

Gather the agreement and payment record

Keep contracts, amendments, invoices, payslips if any, rosters and messages that illustrate the arrangement. Index representative examples instead of forwarding years of unsorted records at intake. Preserve details that do not support your own initial view as well as those that do. Ask what additional records are relevant and how to obtain them appropriately; do not access systems or documents you are not entitled to use.

• Contracting entities and commencement dates
• Agreement and variations
• Representative instructions, schedules and payment records
• The change or decision that prompted your enquiry

04 / Practical step

Separate status from the remedy you want

Explain whether you want advice before accepting work, clarification of an existing arrangement or help about a particular payment or termination. Status, tax, superannuation and contract questions may require different analysis. Ask what the initial advice covers and which matters need an accountant or another specialist. A result in one area should not be assumed to decide all the others.

05 / Practical step

Illustrative example: the arrangement changed

A designer began with discrete projects but now receives a weekly schedule and ongoing instructions under the original contract. The designer records when those changes occurred and asks for advice on the relationship and the next proposed agreement. This invented example does not establish employment. It shows why a timeline and actual working examples can be more useful than simply emailing a contract marked contractor.

06 / Practical step

Agree on the next communication

Before raising a position with the other party, ask the adviser what further information is needed and who should communicate. If there is an approaching response date or the work is ending, highlight it at the start of the enquiry. Request a written scope for any negotiation or claim work. Keep the costs of obtaining initial advice separate from the possible cost of a later dispute.