The dashed line, and what it marks
An order requires the employer supplying the worker to pay the regulated employee at the protected rate of pay or above, for the work done at the host.
The protected rate of pay is the full rate that would be payable if the host employment instrument applied to the worker.
What an order sets
The Commission makes the orders, and they set a rate for the workers a host has in scope: while one is in force, the employer must pay its regulated employees at least the protected rate.
The rate is worked out from the host’s instrument: the total a worker would get under the host’s award or enterprise agreement if the host employed them directly, including when new agreements are negotiated.
The Commission can also set an alternative protected pay rate on application.
Where a host takes on a new employer supplying the same kind of work, the host must apply to the Commission to change the order so that it covers the new employer and its employees.
Who can ask for one
The Act sets out who may apply: a regulated employee, a person the regulated host employs, an employee organisation entitled to represent either, or the regulated host itself.
An employer supplying workers to the host cannot apply for an order, though it can seek to be covered by one that is proposed.
Where the employer needs the figures, it can ask the host in writing for the information to work out the protected rate, and the host must give it.
What an order does not reach
The order power has edges. A host with fewer than 15 employees is a small business employer, and no order can be made where the regulated host is one; employees of associated entities are counted.
Work that is principally a service rather than the supply of labour is outside the power.
The Commission cannot make an order where it is satisfied that making one would not be fair and reasonable in all the circumstances.
Short-term engagements of three months or less generally sit outside the rate, which the Commission’s page calls an exemption period, and so do training arrangements.
How a dispute is handled
Disputes have a path: the parties first try to sort the issue out at the workplace, and can then apply to the Commission for assistance.
For short-term engagements, the Commission can vary the rules that apply.
A dated timeline
The dates the sources give for the power coming in, and for the rate starting.
- 15 December 2023
Part 2-7A entered the Fair Work Act with the Closing Loopholes Act 2023 and took effect from that day.
- 1 November 2024
The Act requires an order to specify the day it comes into force: before 1 November 2024, that day or a later day; otherwise, the day it is made or a later day.
- 1 November 2024
Section 306F, the protected rate of pay requirement, applies on and after this day.
Where the official words are
The Fair Work Ombudsman’s protected pay rate page, and the Fair Work Commission’s orders page and guidelines, are the sources for the statements on orders.
The section references are to Part 2-7A of the Fair Work Act, as compiled on the Federal Register of Legislation. All were read on 13 October 2026.