# Criminal liability of executive officers of bodies corporate

> act-s245AJ — as in force on 2026-06-04 — C2026C00232 · Compilation No. 171 — https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2026C00232/latest/text

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.