{"id":"F2022L01529","name":"Fair Entitlements Guarantee Regulations 2022","slug":"fair-entitlements-guarantee-regulations-2022","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":441616,"registerId":"F2022L01529-fast-fetch-1775956876034","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-12","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Fair Entitlements Guarantee Regulations 2022","content":"---\nmeta-content-style-type: text/css\nmeta-content-type: application/xhtml+xml; charset=utf-8\n---\n\n![Commonwealth Coat of Arms of Australia](image.001.jpeg)\n\n \n\nFair Entitlements Guarantee Regulations 2022\n\nI, General the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Retd), Governor‑General of the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, make the following regulations.\n\nDated  24 November 2022\n\nDavid Hurley\n\nGovernor‑General\n\nBy His Excellency’s Command\n\nTony Burke\n\nMinister for Employment and Workplace Relations\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nContents\n\nPart 1—Preliminary\n\n1 Name\n\n2 Commencement\n\n3 Authority\n\n4 Definitions\n\n5 Schedule 2\n\nPart 2—Schemes for assistance of workers who were not employees\n\n6 Scheme for assistance of workers who were not employees—TCF contract outworkers\n\n7 Saving provision for the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Regulation 2012\n\nSchedule 1—Modifications of the Act in relation to TCF contract outworkers\n\nFair Entitlements Guarantee Act 2012\n\nSchedule 2—Repeal of the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Regulation 2012\n\nFair Entitlements Guarantee Regulation 2012\n\nPart 1—Preliminary\n\n \n\n1  Name\n\n  This instrument is the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Regulations 2022.\n\n2  Commencement\n\n (1) Each provision of this instrument specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.\n\n \n\n- Commencement information\n- Column 1 Column 2 Column 3\n- Provisions Commencement Date/Details\n- 1. The whole of this instrument The day after the last day on which a resolution disallowing this instrument could be passed by either House of the Parliament under the Legislation Act 2003. 25 March 2023\n\n\nNote: This table relates only to the provisions of this instrument as originally made. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this instrument.\n\n (2) Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this instrument. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of this instrument.\n\n3  Authority\n\n  This instrument is made under the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Act 2012.\n\n4  Definitions\n\n  In this instrument:\n\nAct means the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Act 2012.\n\noutworker has the same meaning as in the Fair Work Act 2009.\n\nTCF contract outworker means an individual who does, or has done, work as an outworker in the textile, clothing or footwear industry otherwise than as an employee.\n\n5  Schedule 2\n\n  Each instrument that is specified in Schedule 2 to this instrument is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in that Schedule, and any other item in that Schedule has effect according to its terms.\n\nPart 2—Schemes for assistance of workers who were not employees\n\n \n\n6  Scheme for assistance of workers who were not employees—TCF contract outworkers\n\n (1) This section applies in relation to a TCF contract outworker.\n\n (2) For the purposes of subsection 50(1) of the Act, the specified person for a TCF contract outworker is a person:\n\n (a) for whom the TCF contract outworker performed work directly (within the meaning of section 17A of the Fair Work Act 2009) in the capacity of an outworker; and\n\n (b) who owes the TCF contract outworker an amount for that work; and\n\n (c) who is insolvent or is reasonably expected to become insolvent.\n\n (3) For the purposes of subsections 50(1) and (2) of the Act, this instrument:\n\n (a) sets out a scheme for:\n\n (i) providing, directly or indirectly to TCF contract outworkers who are owed amounts for work they did for a person specified in subsection (2) of this section (except as employees of the person) who is insolvent, financial assistance relating to those amounts; and\n\n (ii) recovering amounts of that financial assistance; and\n\n (b) provides for other matters related to the scheme.\n\n (4) The scheme and the other matters consist of the provisions of Parts 1 to 7 of the Act (the Act provisions), modified in accordance with:\n\n (a) Schedule 1 to this instrument; and\n\n (b) subject to the modifications in Schedule 1 to this instrument—subsection (5) of this section.\n\nNote: Schedule 1 contains specific modifications of particular provisions of the Act that apply in addition to the general modifications in subsection (5) of this section.\n\n (5) For the purposes of paragraph (4)(b), the modifications are as follows:\n\n (a) the scheme applies in relation to a TCF contract outworker in the same way as the Act provisions apply to an employee or former employee;\n\n (b) the scheme applies to the specified person for a TCF contract outworker in the same way as the Act provisions apply to the employer of an employee;\n\n (c) the scheme applies to work done by a TCF contract outworker, and to the engagement of a TCF contract outworker, (otherwise than as an employee) in the same way as the Act provisions apply to the employment of an employee;\n\n (d) the scheme applies in relation to the TCF contract outworker entitlements (within the meaning of the scheme) of a TCF contract outworker in the same way as the Act provisions apply to the employment entitlements of an employee;\n\n (e) a reference in the Act provisions to the Act includes a reference to the scheme.\n\n7  Saving provision for the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Regulation 2012\n\n  Despite the repeal of the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Regulation 2012 (the repealed regulation), the repealed regulation continues to apply, on and after the commencement of this instrument, in relation to an insolvency event that occurred before the repeal of the repealed regulation.\n\nSchedule 1—Modifications of the Act in relation to TCF contract outworkers\n\nNote: See paragraph 6(4)(a).\n\n \n\nFair Entitlements Guarantee Act 2012\n\n1  Section 5\n\nInsert:\n\noutworker has the same meaning as in the Fair Work Act 2009.\n\nspecified person, in relation to a TCF contract outworker, means a person:\n\n (a) for whom the TCF contract outworker performed work directly (within the meaning of section 17A of the Fair Work Act 2009) in the capacity of an outworker; and\n\n (b) who owes the TCF contract outworker an amount for that work; and\n\n (c) who is insolvent or is reasonably expected to become insolvent.\n\nNote: A reference in this scheme to an employer of an employee is, if the reference is not modified by Schedule 1 to the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Regulations 2022, generally a reference to the specified person for a TCF contract outworker (see paragraph 6(5)(b) of those regulations).\n\nTCF contract outworker means an individual who does, or has done, work as an outworker in the textile, clothing or footwear industry otherwise than as an employee.\n\nNote: A reference in this scheme to an employee is, if the reference is not modified by Schedule 1 to the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Regulations 2022, generally a reference to a TCF contract outworker (see paragraph 6(5)(a) of those regulations).\n\nTCF contract outworker entitlements means a TCF contract outworker’s entitlements, under the TCF contract outworker’s governing instrument, to:\n\n (a) annual leave entitlements; or\n\n (b) long service leave entitlements; or\n\n (c) payment in lieu of notice entitlements; or\n\n (d) redundancy pay entitlements; or\n\n (e) wages entitlements.\n\nNote: A reference in this scheme to employment entitlements is, if the reference is not modified by Schedule 1 to the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Regulations 2022, generally a reference to TCF contract outworker entitlements (see paragraph 6(5)(d) of those regulations).\n\n2  Section 10\n\nRepeal the section, substitute:\n\n10  Conditions of eligibility for advance\n\nGeneral conditions\n\n (1) A TCF contract outworker is eligible for an advance if the Secretary is satisfied of all of the following:\n\n (a) the TCF contract outworker has ceased to do work for the specified person;\n\n (b) at or after the repeal of the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Regulation 2012, an insolvency event happened to the specified person;\n\n (c) the TCF contract outworker is (or would, apart from the discharge of the bankruptcy of the specified person, be) owed one or more debts wholly or partly attributable to work done for the specified person in the capacity of an outworker;\n\n (d) before making a claim (see section 14) that the TCF contract outworker is eligible for the advance, the TCF contract outworker has taken steps, so far as reasonable, to prove those debts in the winding up or bankruptcy of the specified person;\n\n (e) before making a claim (see section 14) that the TCF contract outworker is eligible for the advance, if the TCF contract outworker was owed any of those debts before the insolvency event happened, the TCF contract outworker took reasonable steps before that event to be paid those debts;\n\n (f) when the TCF contract outworker ceased to do work for the specified person, the TCF contract outworker was an Australian citizen or, under the Migration Act 1958, the holder of a permanent visa or a special category visa;\n\n (g) an effective claim (see section 14) that the TCF contract outworker is eligible for the advance has been made to the Secretary by or on behalf of the TCF contract outworker.\n\nNote: Subdivision B excludes certain persons from eligibility.\n\nIf TCF contract outworker did work for a partnership\n\n (2) If the TCF contract outworker did work for 2 or more of the partners of a partnership, paragraphs (1)(c) and (d) apply as if each reference in those paragraphs to the specified person were a reference to each of the partners for whom the TCF contract outworker did the work.\n\n3  Sections 12 and 13\n\nRepeal the sections.\n\n4  Subsection 14(1)\n\nOmit “this Act”, substitute “this scheme”.\n\n5  Subsections 14(4) and (5)\n\nRepeal the subsections.\n\n6  Subsections 16(2) to (4)\n\nRepeal the subsections.\n\n7  Section 24\n\nRepeal the section, substitute:\n\n24  Basic amount for wages entitlement\n\n (1) The basic amount for a TCF contract outworker’s wages entitlement is worked out using this section.\n\n (2) If the TCF contract outworker is subject to an agreement for the purposes of Part 2‑5 (Pay as you go (PAYG) withholding) in Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953, the basic amount is the wages entitlement less the amount to be withheld under the agreement from the wages covered by the entitlement.\n\n (3) If the TCF contract outworker is not subject to an agreement for the purposes of Part 2‑5 (Pay as you go (PAYG) withholding) in Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953, the basic amount is the wages entitlement.\n\nNote: Sections 25 and 27 may affect the basic amount.\n\n8  Sections 29 and 30\n\nRepeal the sections.\n\n9  Subsection 31(3)\n\nRepeal the subsection.\n\n10  Paragraph 33(a)\n\nOmit “sections 29, 30 and 31 apply”, substitute “section 31 applies”.\n\n11  Section 45\n\nRepeal the section, substitute:\n\n45  Disclosure of personal information to certain agencies\n\n  For the purposes of facilitating the exercise of powers, or performance of functions, that an agency (as defined in the Privacy Act 1988) has in relation to the Corporations Act 2001, the Bankruptcy Act 1966 or entitlements of a TCF contract outworker, the Department may disclose to the agency personal information that:\n\n (a) the Department has in connection with the administration of this scheme; and\n\n (b) is about:\n\n (i) a specified person for a TCF contract outworker; or\n\n (ii) an officer (as defined in the Corporations Act 2001) of a specified person for a TCF contract outworker; or\n\n (iii) an insolvency practitioner for a specified person for a TCF contract outworker; or\n\n (iv) a current or former employee of a specified person for a TCF contract outworker; or\n\n (v) a TCF contract outworker.\n\n12  Section 49\n\nRepeal the section, substitute:\n\n49  Extended operation of this scheme in relation to specified persons in administration under the Corporations Act 2001\n\nMaking a declaration\n\n (1) The Minister may by legislative instrument declare that this scheme applies in relation to persons (former outworkers) who were TCF contract outworkers who did work directly (within the meaning of section 17A of the Fair Work Act 2009), but no longer do work, for a person identified in the declaration (the identified person) that is under administration under Part 5.3A of the Corporations Act 2001 (whether or not the identified person was under administration while any of the former outworkers did the work).\n\n (2) The Minister may make the declaration only if the Minister is satisfied that:\n\n (a) the identified person’s creditors are expected to resolve at a meeting convened under section 439A of the Corporations Act 2001 that the identified person be wound up; and\n\n (b) if the declaration is made, it will be practicable to administer this scheme as it will apply because of the declaration in relation to the identified person.\n\nEffect of declaration\n\n (3) While the declaration is in force, this scheme applies in relation to the former outworkers and the specified person as if:\n\n (a) the administrator of the identified person under Part 5.3A of the Corporations Act 2001 were a liquidator appointed when the administrator was appointed; and\n\n (b) paragraph 14(2)(a) of this scheme referred to the declaration being made (instead of an insolvency event happening to the identified person).\n\nRevoking a declaration\n\n (4) The Minister may, by legislative instrument, revoke a declaration made under subsection (1).\n\n13  Section 50\n\nRepeal the section.\n\n14  Section 51\n\nRepeal the section.\n\nNote: As section 51 of the Act appropriates the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the purposes of payments made under the scheme, as well as payments otherwise made under the Act, there is no equivalent of section 51 in the scheme.\n\n15  Section 52\n\nRepeal the section.\n\nNote: As section 52 of the Act provides for the recovery of payments made under the scheme, as well as payments otherwise made under the Act, there is no equivalent of section 52 in the scheme.\n\n16  Section 55\n\nRepeal the section.\n\nSchedule 2—Repeal of the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Regulation 2012\n\n \n\nFair Entitlements Guarantee Regulation 2012\n\n1  The whole of the instrument\n\nRepeal the instrument.\n\n \n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":6,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation remains tightly focused on its original purpose: extending Fair Entitlements Guarantee protections to TCF contract outworkers. It does not expand beyond the textile, clothing and footwear industry or beyond the specific category of outworkers. The modifications are mechanical adaptations (substituting 'employee' with 'outworker') rather than substantive expansions of coverage or entitlements."},"complexity_factors":["Extensive cross-referencing: The scheme imports Parts 1–7 of the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Act 2012 by reference, then modifies them through both general rules (section 6(5)) and specific amendments (Schedule 1)","Nested definitions: Terms like 'TCF contract outworker', 'specified person', and 'TCF contract outworker entitlements' are defined in the instrument, then redefined or inserted into the Act via Schedule 1, creating parallel definition structures","Conceptual substitution logic: The instrument operates by 'as if' equivalences — treating outworkers as employees, specified persons as employers, and contract work as employment — requiring mental mapping between two legal frameworks","Conditional commencement: The instrument uses the standard disallowance period trigger (day after last day for disallowance resolution), which is conditional on parliamentary processes","Savings provision with temporal complexity: Section 7 preserves the old regulation for pre-commencement insolvency events, creating overlapping temporal jurisdictions","Ministerial discretion with safeguards: Section 49 (inserted via Schedule 1) allows Ministerial declarations for companies in administration, subject to double satisfaction tests (creditor resolution expectation and administrative practicability)","Selective repeal and substitution: Schedule 1 repeals and substitutes 16 specific sections of the Act, with explanatory notes indicating why certain appropriation and recovery sections don't need equivalents"],"plain_english_summary":"This instrument creates a safety net letting textile, clothing and footwear (TCF) contract outworkers claim government financial assistance when the business that engaged them becomes insolvent — effectively extending protections like the Fair Entitlements Guarantee to home-based contractors.  \n\nIt affects TCF outworkers, the companies that engaged them, and the department administering payments, and matters because it fills a gap for vulnerable, often dependent workers who were previously excluded from employee entitlements."},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":6,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"The instrument expands the Act’s scope to cover TCF contract outworkers who are not employees by (a) defining TCF contract outworkers and the relevant 'specified person' (Schedule 1, item 1), (b) applying modified Act provisions to those outworkers and their entitlements (regulation 6(3)–(5) and Schedule 1 generally), (c) altering eligibility and calculation rules (Schedule 1, items 2 and 7), and (d) providing transitional treatment and repeal of the 2012 regulation while preserving coverage for insolvency events that occurred before repeal (regulation 7; Schedule 2)."},"complexity_factors":["Extension of an employee‑centred scheme to non‑employees (TCF contract outworkers) requires multiple targeted modifications across the Act (see regulation 6(3)–(5) and Schedule 1).","New and amended definitions (TCF contract outworker, specified person, TCF contract outworker entitlements) create cross‑referencing with existing Act language (Schedule 1, item 1).","Eligibility criteria and proof‑in‑insolvency requirements add procedural steps and evidentiary burdens for claimants (Schedule 1, item 2 replacing section 10).","Calculation adjustments for wages entitlements interact with tax withholding arrangements (Schedule 1, item 7 replacing section 24; PAYG reference).","Ministerial discretion to declare scheme operation for persons under administration introduces case‑by‑case application and legal uncertainty (Schedule 1, item 12 replacing section 49).","Disclosure powers are broadened to share personal information with other agencies, affecting privacy and information flows (Schedule 1, item 11 replacing section 45).","Multiple repeals and savings (repeal of the 2012 Regulation, saving clause for prior insolvency events) require tracing transitional coverage (regulation 7; Schedule 2).","Reliance on external definitions and concepts from the Fair Work Act 2009 and Corporations Act 2001 increases legal interdependence and interpretive complexity (definition of ‘outworker’ and use of ‘directly’ per regulation/Schedule 1 and section 49 references)."],"plain_english_summary":"These regulations extend the Fair Entitlements Guarantee to TCF contract outworkers — individuals who do textile, clothing or footwear outwork otherwise than as employees — by treating the person who directly engaged and owes them pay and is insolvent as the “specified person”. The instrument applies modified provisions of the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Act to enable payments and recovery, sets eligibility and calculation rules (including PAYG treatment), allows ministerial declarations for persons under administration, and repeals the 2012 regulation while preserving earlier insolvency events."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/fair-entitlements-guarantee-regulations-2022","history":"/api/acts/fair-entitlements-guarantee-regulations-2022/history","analysis":"/api/acts/fair-entitlements-guarantee-regulations-2022/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/fair-entitlements-guarantee-regulations-2022/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/fair-entitlements-guarantee-regulations-2022/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/fair-entitlements-guarantee-regulations-2022/documents"}}