Unit entitlements are the allocated share of the rights and responsibilities of a strata scheme. They impact an owner’s contributions to the expenses of the strata scheme, rights over common property and voting rights.

The High Court in Carter Holt Harvey Woodproducts Australia Pty Ltd v The Commonwealth [2019] HCA 20 has clarified and confirmed that in the winding up of an insolvent corporate trustee, trust assets to which the company is entitled (via its right of indemnity) are property of the company, and the statutory priority regime under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Act) applies in terms of the distribution of the trust assets.  

In the current global environment, it could be argued that there is a broad and accelerating trend towards “holding the powerful to account”, seen through social movements such as #TimesUp and #MeToo. Though largely initially confined to the entertainment industry, these movements have ended any number of high-profile careers and the ramifications are spreading geographically and across industries.

The Department of Home Affairs has recently introduced very welcome changes to the migration program, expanding the definition of “Regional Australia” and creating two new visas for employers and visa applicants outside the major cities.

On 3 September 2019, Basten J of the NSW Supreme Court delivered appeal Judgments in three cases heard concurrently and (for the time being) confirmed the correct approach for assessing damages in claims for hire vehicle costs following an accident.  

Pursuant to section 96(1) of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the Act), permanent employees are entitled to 10 days paid personal/carer’s leave each year. For a standard 38 hour working week, this equates to 10 days of personal/carer’s leave at 7.6 hours per day.    

Facebook, Microsoft, Google and Amazon have admitted to eavesdropping. It was recently revealed the industry giants paid hundreds of contractors to manually transcribe users’ conversations in an attempt to improve speech recognition technology and artificial intelligence algorithms. This revelation has left many users reeling.  

The High Court of Australia recently allowed an appeal from the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory. The decision confirmed that normally costs follow the event and held that impecuniosity of the unsuccessful party is not a basis to change that.  

In 2010, the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) launched the “not-for-profit governance and performance study” (originally called the “directors social impact study”). The study focused on key trends in the not for profit (NFP) sector and issues affecting NFP directors at that time. Ten years on, the AICD published its most recent findings in the latest edition of the study titled “the 2019 not-for-profit governance and performance study: 10 years on”. The report provides valuable insight into current challenges faced by the sector and its director counterparts.

In a landmark decision, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the US consumer regulator, has announced that Facebook has agreed to pay a USD $5 billion (AUD $7.1 billion) fine for deceiving its 80+ million users about the social medial giant’s ability to protect user’s personal information. The multibillion dollar fine is in addition to a $100 million settlement with the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC).  

With the demise of the master/servant relationship in the employment sphere 120 years ago, surely our private opinions are no longer owned by our employers.  In the privacy of our own garret, we must be free to pen our most impassioned feelings.  And if not obviously published in a manner that connects such ruminations to our employer, surely we must be free from consequence?  

In the matter of DQE v University of Sydney [2019] NSWCATAD 132, DQE (the Applicant) filed a complaint with the University of Sydney (Respondent) alleging he was bullied by an employee of the Respondent referred to as Mr A. The Respondent undertook a preliminary assessment of the complaint and found that there was insufficient evidence to support the allegations. The Applicant was informed of the outcome of the preliminary assessment and following that sought access to all records held by the Respondent in connection with the complaint under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (Cth) (GIPA Act).

In a recent case in the criminal jurisdiction of the New South Wales Local Court the prosecution failed because the magistrate held that there was no evidence capable of establishing one of the elements of the offence. The alleged offence was breach of the Commonwealth Hazardous Wastes (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1989 (“the HWA”) relating to alleged breach of a permit for the export from Australia to Belgium of scrap lithium ion batteries as hazardous waste.  The prosecution was brought against the corporate exporter as the holder of the export permit.

Employees who are covered by an award will have their award base rates increased by 3% with effect from the first pay period starting 1 July 2019. The FWC’s pay guides have the current minimum pay rates for full-time, part-time and casual employees in an award, so be sure to check again for the soon to be published 2019-20 pay guide rates.