My contractor has their own ABN and their own insurance. Does that exclude them from my policy?

Not automatically. An ABN and the contractor’s own insurance are relevant facts, but a deeming test looks at how the work is actually performed, not at what paperwork the contractor separately holds.

Does a company director count as a worker?

It depends on the scheme and the specific role. Some schemes ask employers to consider directors and officers specifically rather than assume the title puts them outside the definition.

If I got the classification wrong, what happens?

The scheme in question is the place to correct it — generally by contacting the insurer or administrator holding the policy and describing the actual working arrangement, since classification is a scheme question rather than a general legal one this site can resolve.

Who counts as a worker for workers compensation

In short

Whether someone is a "worker" turns on the type of contract behind the arrangement, not on whether they are called an employee or hold an ABN.
A contract of service functions like employment and is generally covered; a contract for services is the independent-contractor arrangement schemes treat differently — until a deeming rule pulls it back in.
Each state and territory applies its own version of this test, so an answer confirmed in one scheme does not transfer to another.

The word "worker" in workers compensation law does more than the everyday word "employee." Every scheme reaches some contractors, some directors, sometimes volunteers, and the test is never simply whether somebody was put on payroll.

This page is the framework for working it out, using Queensland’s own published test as the clearest available example, alongside what carries across other schemes and what does not.

The distinction the schemes actually draw

The starting distinction is between a contract of service and a contract for services. A contract of service describes an employment-shaped relationship — direction, control, integration into the business — and is treated as covering a worker. A contract for services describes an independent contractor engaged to produce a result, and is treated differently by default.

WorkCover Queensland’s own guidance states the test directly: a worker is an individual — not a corporation, partnership or trust — who is either a PAYG employee or a person working under a contract of service, such as a subcontractor doing work similar to an employee’s. The label the parties gave the arrangement does not settle which category it falls into; how the work is actually done does.

How this plays out for a Queensland employer specifically

Why an ABN does not settle it

Holding an ABN is evidence someone runs a business, not proof they sit outside a scheme’s worker definition. Every scheme has a form of deeming provision capable of treating a contractor as a worker of the business that engaged them where the real relationship functions like employment, regardless of what invoice was issued.

A sole trader can be caught by this from the other direction too: WorkCover Queensland’s guidance is explicit that an individual sole trader may still be a worker of the business engaging them — a different question from whether that sole trader can buy a policy covering themselves as an owner.

What happens when the question runs the other way

Categories that are easy to miss

Apprentices, unpaid interns, directors and officers, volunteers, and people on work experience or vocational placements do not sort neatly into "obviously covered" or "obviously not." WorkCover Queensland’s guidance specifically asks employers to consider each of these categories on its own facts rather than assume a default answer covers all of them.

Treating this as a one-off decision made at hiring is a common error. A relationship that starts as a genuine contract for services can shift in substance as the work continues, so the classification is worth revisiting rather than set once and forgotten.

Why the answer differs by state

Each scheme writes and applies its own worker definition and its own deeming rules, and a determination made under one state’s test is not a determination under another’s. A business engaging the same kind of contractor in two states can correctly reach two different answers, and assuming consistency across the border is where mistakes happen.

What to do when a worker actually crosses a border

Questions

My contractor has their own ABN and their own insurance. Does that exclude them from my policy?: Not automatically. An ABN and the contractor’s own insurance are relevant facts, but a deeming test looks at how the work is actually performed, not at what paperwork the contractor separately holds.
Does a company director count as a worker?: It depends on the scheme and the specific role. Some schemes ask employers to consider directors and officers specifically rather than assume the title puts them outside the definition.
If I got the classification wrong, what happens?: The scheme in question is the place to correct it — generally by contacting the insurer or administrator holding the policy and describing the actual working arrangement, since classification is a scheme question rather than a general legal one this site can resolve.

Sources

WorkCover Queensland — who should I cover — WorkCover Queensland’s guidance on which categories of worker an accident insurance policy has to cover, including the contract-of-service test.
Moneysmart (ASIC) — General guidance on business insurance from the regulator’s consumer site.