Worker who's not paid for licence (1,4,4)

'licence' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'worker who's not paid for' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'worker' could be 'hand' (hand is a kind of worker) and 'hand' is found in the answer.
'not paid for' could be 'free' (free of charge) and 'free' is found in the answer.
A single letter 'a' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?