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Writer's pictureDeliveryTasker

Pizza Restaurant Owners Beware: Independent Food & Pizza Delivery Contractors


Over the last few years, we've spoken to numerous restaurants. Some of them mentioned that they hire food or pizza delivery drivers "on ABN" directly.


COMMON MISCONCEPTION

Unfortunately, a common misconception in the hospitality industry is that you can avoid paying award rates, super, leave entitlements, payroll tax etc if you hire someone on ABN (that makes them an independent food & pizza delivery contractor, right?)


Wrong.


Under the Australian Tax Law, having an ABN does not make a person an independent contractor. Several conditions need to be met. Some of the key ones include (but not limited to):


If there's an agreement or expectation where the worker has to work for you weekly in a regular fashion (e.g. every Fri), then the worker is regarded as an employee, regardless of whether the worker has an ABN.


If the payment rates are fixed and controlled by you, then the worker is also regarded as an employee.


If you control the way they perform the work, then the worker is also regarded as an employee.


In other words, there's no legal way most restaurants can hire a worker as an independent contractor directly.


Almost every year, Fairwork Commission in Australia gives out fines of +$300k per restaurant who underpays employee or avoids paying the full employee awards and employment benefits. For more information on how an independent contractor is defined, visit here.


AS A RESTAURANT OWNER, HOW CAN I ACCESS INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS?

Either employ a worker (as an employee) or if you need flexibility, then get a real independent contractor through 3rd party platforms (e.g. DeliveryTasker -- https://www.deliverytasker.au).


HOWEVER..

If you start engaging the contractor directly yourself outside of the platform, then the contractor is no longer an independent contractor, and you'll legally be required to treat the worker as an employee.



ABOUT DELIVERY TASKER

DeliveryTasker is a delivery driver platform where restaurant owners can hire food or pizza delivery contractors for 2 hours or more, paying them a combination of hourly rate plus a small delivery fee, to deliver just for the restaurant.


DeliveryTasker is frequently used by restaurant owners who choose the self-delivery options on Ubereats, Menulog and Doordash to reduce their commissions by over 50%.


Restaurant owners typically hire their own food and pizza delivery contractors to give them more control over their delivery times, improving customer satisfaction.


By taking advantage of the high delivery order volumes from third-party delivery apps like Ubereats, Menulog and Doordash, restaurant owners can hire a delivery contractor on an hourly rate to run orders for their own online ordering website, phone orders and orders from Ubereats, Menulog and Doordash. This helps to spread the hourly delivery cost across more orders, keeping cost per delivery low.






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