Pharmacy Insurance
November 12, 2012
I don't want to be a scaremonger,
but did you know that directors can
be held personally liable for breaches
of the Fair Work Act 2009?
Perhaps more worryingly, the
personal liability provisions are so
broad you need not even be a
director to trigger them.
Staff could also be personally liable
for contraventions, as could external
advisers.
This startling provision is tucked
away towards the end of the Fair
Work Act and, it is fair to say, has not
been well publicised.
The relevant section provides that a
person “involved in” the
contravention of certain sections of
the Fair Work Act is taken to have
personally contravened that
provision.
So, if an employee asked a
pharmacy manager or owner what
their leave entitlement under the
National Employment Standards
was and the manager responded
incorrectly, s/he could then be
held personally liable for that error.
This is amazing when you think
about it.
It completely circumvents the
contractualrelationship between an
employer and employee, meaning
that the buck does not stop with the
employer when something goes
wrong.
All of this comes against a
background of a piece of legislation
that is so complex that even the Fair
Work Ombudsman, who is
responsible for enforcing the
provisions of the Fair Work Act, is
failing to accurately interpret the
provisions.
It was recently exposed that the
Fair Work Ombudsman has been
providing incorrect pay rates to
employers, which led to them
underpaying staff.
Notably, the Fair Work
Ombudsman was not found to be
personally liable for this advice.
For more information please
see www.pharmacyinsurance.com.au
or call 1300 227 655.
This
week’s
contributor is
Tony Carollo,
Director, Carollo Horton &
Associates.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 12 Nov 12To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 12 Nov 12
