Section 245AJ — Criminal liability of executive officers of bodies corporate

245AJ Criminal liability of executive officers of bodies corporate

(1) An executive officer of a body corporate commits an offence if:

(a) the body commits an offence (the work-related offence) against this Subdivision; and

(b) the officer knew that, or was reckless or negligent as to whether, the work-related offence would be committed; and

(c) the officer was in a position to influence the conduct of the body in relation to the work-related offence; and

(d) the officer failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent the work-related offence being committed.

(2) An offence against subsection (1) is punishable on conviction by a pecuniary penalty not exceeding one-fifth of the maximum

pecuniary penalty that a court could impose on the body corporate for the work-related offence.

Reasonable steps to prevent the offence

(3) In determining whether the executive officer of the body corporate failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent the work-related offence being committed by the body, a court must have regard to:

(a) what action (if any) the officer took towards ensuring that the body’s employees, agents and contractors had a reasonable knowledge and understanding of the requirements to comply with this Subdivision, insofar as those requirements affected the employees, agents or contractors concerned; and

(b) what action (if any) the officer took when he or she became aware that the body was committing the work-related offence.

(4) Subsection (3) does not limit subsection (1).

Definition

(5) In this section: executive officer of a body corporate means:

(a) a director of the body corporate; or

(b) the chief executive officer (however described) of the body corporate; or

(c) the chief financial officer (however described) of the body corporate; or

(d) the secretary of the body corporate.