News & Blog

A recent decision of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia has demonstrated that the increased protections introduced by the vulnerable worker amendments to the Fair Work Act are being applied with real consequences for employers who underpay their ...

1. Section 90K(1)(aa) of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) provides that a court may set aside a financial agreement if the court is satisfied that a party to the agreement entered into the agreement for purposes including the purpose o...

Restraint clauses are not ‘one size fits all’. Typically, courts look less favourably on restraints imposed on an employee than restraints imposed on a vendor to protect the goodwill of a business in a sale. So to be enforceable, restrain...

In its first decision under the new unfair contracts regime that extends to standard form small business contracts, the Federal Court has found several terms to be unfair, and therefore, void. In October we published an

In certain circumstances, liquidators may be at risk of personal exposure to costs orders in litigation. The court’s approach to the making of costs orders against liquidators depends on (amongst other things) whether the liquidator is a named party...

On 19 October 2017, the Bankruptcy Amendment (Enterprise Incentives) Bill 2017 was introduced into Parliament by the Commonwealth Government in order to reduce the default period of bankruptcy from three years down to just one year. The stat...

Employers, particularly franchisors and holding companies, should remain vigilant – the Fair Work Ombudsman is ready to strike. And when it does, the recent changes to the Fair Work Act aimed at protecting vulnerable workers and holding franchisors t...

The High Court decision of Thorne v Kennedy [2017] HCA 49, handed down on 8 November 2017, is another reminder of the Court’s power to strike down contracts where one party has been subjected to duress, undue influence or unconscionable cond...