By: Angela Winkler and Chad Farah De Martin & Gasparini Pty Ltd v Bartlett [2025] NSWCA 56 At a glance The Court of Appeal upheld that DMG was vicariously liable for the unidentified worker’s negligence, based on circumstantial evidence showing the worker was likely DMG’s direct employee. The Court overturned the trial judge’s finding and […]
By: Sian Gilbert and Dexter Cabal At a glance From 26 August 2024, employees of organisations that employ 15 or more people will have a ‘right to disconnect’ outside of their normal working hours, unless their refusal is unreasonable. Employees of small business employers will have the right to disconnect from 26 August 2025. Whether an […]
By: Jonathan Maher and Aisha Lala At a glance The federal government has just issued a national safety warning notice about the risk of fire from certain LG home energy storage system batteries, which are large Lithium-ion cells. The latest warning notice adds to the 23 recalls between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2022 […]
At a glance On 16 October 2023, the REA will adopt a new process for handling complaints against real estate agents. Under the new process, there will be an earlier opportunity for licensees to make their case to have a complaint dismissed. The REA is also adopting new timeframes for responses to complaints that have […]
The High Court’s recent decision in James v Luxury Real Estate Limited involved an appeal from the District Court by the owners of a luxury property in Queenstown. The case concerned allegations of a breach of fiduciary duties and repudiation of a real estate agency agreement by the listing agency and agent. Ultimately, despite a […]
Karlevski v Vicinity Centres PM Pty Ltd & Anor [2023] VCC 482 A recent decision by the County Court of Victoria has reconfirmed that while plaintiffs in personal injury actions can rely on inferential reasoning in the absence of direct evidence to a point, mere conjecture is not sufficient. In this matter, which involves a […]
Garrett v Victorian WorkCover Authority [2022] VSC 623 and Schokman v CCIG Investments Pty Ltd [2022] QCA 38 Two recent decisions – with quite different outcomes – suggest the courts are still grappling with the difficult question of in what circumstances an employer should be found vicariously liable for the wrongful acts of an employee. […]
Welcome to Wotton Kearney’s first Employment Law Bulletin. The last few months have been full of interesting employment law developments in New Zealand that are likely to have profound impacts for businesses and their insurers. In this issue, we look at recent restructuring cases, the impact of Uber drivers being defined as employees, Holidays Act […]
In early 2022, the Albanese government committed to implementing and legislating all 55 of the recommendations of the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Respect@Work Report. On 27 September 2022, the government introduced the Anti-Discrimination and Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Respect at Work) Bill 2022, which seeks to implement seven of the 55 recommendations to strengthen laws […]
On 31 March 2022, the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 WA (WHS Act) came into effect. The major change for the insurance sector from the harmonised WHS legislation is that WHS penalties are no longer insurable. For insurers and brokers, this means it is important to ensure renewed policies do not contain terms that […]
