Under s836 of the Workplace Relations Act 2006 and under Reg 19 of the Workplace Relations Regulations 2006 there are specific requirements for the keeping of employee records which every employer must comply with.

This Checklist: Employees & Contractors should provide a comprehensive but general set of questions that need to be asked in the course of your investigations about legal issues and compliance that may affect any target company and its business that you are looking to acquire.

There are other due diligence investigations that you will need to carry out. They will probably include an accounting and financial due diligence which should be carried out by an accountant; and a market/industry due diligence which you, together with consultants familiar with the industry in which the target company operates, will need to carry out.

Every business is different, depending upon the industry, the applicable regulatory authorities in the States/Territories in which the business is being carried on. For this reason, it is very important to consider what additional questions need to be put as part of any due diligence process in order to have a thorough understanding of the overall legal compliance by the target company to date.

This Checklist: Employees & Contractors covers a range of issues including:

1. WorkPlace compliance, internal employment procedures and policies, statutory leave entitlements, employment records generally, employee qualifications; and
2. Matters relating to engagement of Contractors.