Holman Webb is delighted to announce that we have been selected as a finalist in the Australasian Law Awards 2015 – Law Firm of the Year (100-249 lawyers) category.  The Australasian Law Awards celebrate excellence in the legal profession in Australia and New Zealand. 

The recently decided case of The Fair Work Ombudsman v Crocmedia Pty Ltd provided a hard learned lesson for employers about the importance of correctly classifying and remunerating employees. The case highlights the importance of understanding that employment relationships have a legal definition and employer’s cannot simply dressed up employment as an unpaid internship or work experience in order to escape any obligation to remunerate pursuant to the Fair Work Act 2009 (“FWA”).  

Welcome to the February 2015 edition of the Holman Webb Health Law Bulletin.

The West Australian Court of Appeal has recently handed down its decision in the case of Dekker v Medical Board of Australia commenting upon the obligation of a medical practitioner to act as a good Samaritan.

Holman Webb is delighted to announce the recent appointment of Hamish Cotton, Special Counsel to our Insurance team.

This article, recently published in the February 2015 Law Society Journal, considers the extent to which the objectives underpinning the introduction of amending federal and new state legislation have been effective, if they have not, why not, and what further steps can now be taken to engender the necessary culture of arbitration to promote a competitive and sustainable arbitration environment in Australia.

In January 2015 the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner published a guide to "securing personal information" by recommending reasonable steps to protect personal information.

On January 28, 2015 the High Court ruled that the detention of asylum seekers at sea in what is known as the "contiguous zone" is authorised by the Maritime Powers Act 2013.  157 passengers were on board an Indian flagged vessel.  One of them claimed false imprisonment.  The High Court rejected this.  The vessel had been intercepted by an Australian border protection ship in the Indian Ocean within Australia's contiguous zone.  The vessel was detained, and once it became unseaworthy the passengers were transferred to the Australian vessel. 

In the recent general protections’ case of Heriot v Sayfa Systems Pty Limited [2014] FCCA 1622, an employee’s dismissal by way of a mutual termination was held to be adverse action against the employee.

Welcome to the first edition of the Holman Webb Workplace Relations Bulletin December 2014.

Cloud storage and the protection of personal information is a vexed and difficult issue to deal with.  Under the Australian Privacy legislation a local entity that provides personal information to a storage facility outside Australia may be exposed to liability that arises if the external storage provider breaches the Australian Privacy Principles.