Your completion rate dropped after two weeks of rain and a run of restaurants that took forty minutes to hand over the order. Then a customer said an order never arrived, though the app shows you at their door with a photo. Then: “We’ve made the decision to deactivate your Dasher account.” Menulog and Amazon Flex couriers tell the same story with different logos.
Since 26 February 2025, a platform that deactivates an employee-like worker is measured against the Digital Labour Platform Deactivation Code 2024. It’s short, it’s specific, and a deactivation that doesn’t meet it can be found unfair by the Fair Work Commission. Most couriers have never heard of it, and most deactivation notices don’t mention it. Here’s what it requires, and how to hold a platform to it.
Your rights
The Code is made under Chapter 3A of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) and applies to deactivations of employee-like workers who have worked regularly on the platform for at least six months. A deactivation will not be unfair if the platform complied with the Code; conversely, non-compliance is a central factor in whether it was harsh, unjust or unreasonable. The Code’s minimum standards are:
- A valid reason. The deactivation must be for a valid reason related to your capacity or conduct (for example, a genuine safety breach or a real inability to perform the work), not for an arbitrary metric or an unverified allegation.
- Written notice of the reason. You must be told, in writing, the reason for the proposed deactivation.
- An opportunity to respond. Before the decision is final, you must be given a genuine chance to respond to the reason, unless the platform reasonably believes there’s a serious safety risk, a legal reason, or serious misconduct that justifies immediate action, and even then a post-deactivation review must be offered.
- Consideration of your response. The platform must consider what you say before confirming the deactivation.
- A dispute pathway. The platform must give you a way to dispute the decision internally, with a human, and tell you about it.
- The FWC application. If the deactivation was unfair, you can apply to the Fair Work Commission under Part 3A-4 within 21 days; the Commission can order reactivation and make-up of lost remuneration.
The Code and the Act are federal and apply the same way in every state and territory, so there is no by-state section in this post.
What to do right now
- Find the deactivation date and count 21 days. Temporary suspensions don’t start the clock, but if the “temporary” suspension has no end date and you can’t take work, treat it as a deactivation and lodge.
- Map the notice against the Code. Did it state a reason? Was it specific enough to answer? Were you invited to respond before the decision? Is there a named dispute channel? Each “no” is a paragraph in your application.
- Respond anyway, in writing, today. Send the platform your account of the incident and your evidence, and ask them to identify the Code standard they followed. Their reply (or silence) becomes evidence.
- Prove six months of regular work. Export weekly earnings and delivery counts. “Regular” doesn’t mean full-time, but a consistent pattern over the six months before deactivation is what the Commission looks for.
- Lodge Form F89. Attach the deactivation notice, your response, the earnings history and your evidence on the incident.
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The metrics problem
Delivery platforms deactivate heavily on automated thresholds: completion rate, on-time rate, customer rating, “suspicious activity” flags. A metric can be a valid reason if it genuinely reflects your capacity or conduct, but it usually can’t be one where the platform can’t explain what the number measures, where external factors (restaurant delays, app outages, weather, wrong addresses) drove it, or where the threshold was never communicated. The Code’s notice-and-response requirement bites hardest here: if you were never told your rate was approaching a deactivation threshold and never given a chance to explain the dips, the platform has not given you an opportunity to respond to the reason. Say so, with the data. For identity and “fraud” deactivations, ask what specifically was detected; a failed selfie match against a photo taken five years ago is not misconduct.
Multi-apping and the six-month rule
Most couriers run two or three apps. Eligibility is assessed platform by platform: six months of regular work on the platform that deactivated you, not six months across all of them combined. If you dropped off DoorDash for a stretch while Menulog was busier, expect the platform to argue the work wasn’t regular. Answer it with the actual pattern: weeks worked, deliveries per week, and any period in which the platform itself restricted your access or had no work in your zone. Regularity is about a consistent relationship, not full-time hours. Earnings below the contractor high-income threshold are assumed for almost every courier, but keep your annual statement in case the point is raised.
Who to complain to
The platform, using the dispute channel the Code requires it to provide. The Fair Work Commission (Form F89, within 21 days of the deactivation taking effect). The Fair Work Ombudsman for guidance on regulated-worker rights. The Transport Workers’ Union for representation. If the platform also owes you unpaid earnings or tips, that’s a separate contractual claim in your state’s small-claims court or tribunal.
Hold the platform to the Code — $49
Stop reading. Start doing. Claim Done drafts your Unfair Deactivation Application content for Form F89, structured around each Code requirement the platform met or failed, with your account of the incident, the six-month eligibility evidence, the loss, and the reactivation and compensation sought, plus a written internal dispute to the platform.
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What happens when you put it in writing — properly
Same problem. What a prepared case looks like.