CCIG Investments Pty Ltd v Schokman [2023] HCA 21 On 2 August 2023, the High Court of Australia overturned an appeal from the Queensland Court of Appeal, finding an employer was not vicariously liable for its employee’s act of drunken urination, which occurred in employer-provided shared accommodation. While we looked at the implications of that […]
CCIG Investments Pty Ltd v Schokman [2023] HCA 21 On 2 August 2023, the High Court of Australia overturned an appeal from the Queensland Court of Appeal to find the employer was not vicariously liable for an employee’s tortious act, which occurred in employer-provided shared accommodation. In Schokman, the High Court considered that the mere […]
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 […]
Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union v Personnel Contracting Pty Ltd [2022] HCA 1; ZG Operations Australia Pty Ltd v Jamsek [2022] HCA 2 Two landmark High Court cases have decided that the terms of a written contract will determine whether a person is an employee or a contractor. This is a major shift […]
From 26 October 2021, the COVID-19 Public Health (Vaccination) Order was extended to include workers in the health and disability and education sectors. The lack of time between the announcement, its publication and the requirement to have at least a first dose of vaccination – as well as confusion over who is affected and who […]
On 11 October 2021 the New Zealand Government announced its intention to extend the COVID-19 Public Health Response (Vaccinations) Order 2021 (vaccination order) to require high risk workers in the health and disability sectors to receive their first vaccination dose by 30 October 2021 and to be fully vaccinated by 1 December 2021. Employers in […]
Until this week, there has been limited legal mandate requiring vaccination of New Zealand employees, other than border workers, via the COVID-19 Public Health Response (Vaccinations) Order 2021. That changed on 11 October 2021 when the New Zealand Government announced an extended vaccination mandate to include high risk workers in the health and disability sector, […]
