Reading RoomThe Farm Debt Mediation Act 2011 (Act) has recently received assent in Victoria and will commence on 1 December 2011. The Act is largely modelled on the New South Wales equivalent that has operated since 1994.
The Act provides for the resolution of farm debt disputes by requiring a creditor to provide a farmer with the opportunity to mediate before taking possession of property or other enforcement action under a farm mortgage.
A recent Federal Court decision held that a secured creditor was entitled to be subrogated to the employees' priority claims on the general (non-charged) assets of a company in liquidation, including preference recoveries, in circumstances where those claims had previously been paid out of the charged assets of the company.
On 28 October 2010, the Federal Court of Australia ruled in Gothard, a decision relating to the Allco Finance Group (Group),that a person may be regarded as an employee of one group company, even though the written employment contract names another company in the group as the employer.
The Federal Court decision in Gothard, in the matter of AFG Pty Limited (Receivers and Managers appointed)(in liquidation) v Davey [2010] FCA 1163 confirms that, in determining where the liability for employee entitlements sits within a corporate group, it is important to look at the wider employment relationship rather than merely the contractual documents. Significantly, the court held that a person may be regarded as an employee of one group company, even though the written employment contract names another company in the group as the employer.