The Employment (Collective Redundancies and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2024 has been signed into law. The Act, once commenced, will amend the existing collective redundancy regime in insolvency situations and will deliver on key Programme for Government commitments detailed in the Plan of Action – Collective Redundancies following Insolvency.

Background

The Employment (Collective Redundancies and Miscellaneous Provisions) and Companies (Amendment) Act 2024 has been signed into law. The text of the Act remains unchanged from when we published a briefing on the Bill in December here.

At A Glance

The Employment (Collective Redundancies and Miscellaneous Provisions) and Companies (Amendment) Bill 2023 (the “Bill”) proposes amendments to the existing collective redundancy regime in insolvency situations. If enacted, the Bill will deliver on key Programme for Government commitments detailed in the Plan of Action – Collective Redundancies following Insolvency.

A recently published Bill proposes amendments to the existing collective redundancy regime in insolvency situations. If enacted, the Bill will deliver on key Programme for Government commitments detailed in the Plan of Action – Collective Redundancies following Insolvency.

In the event of a contractual counterparty going into liquidation, whether or not a trade counterparty may claim set-off against debts owed to the insolvent counterparty can dramatically affect the commercial position of the account debtor. This was recently highlighted in the decision of Hamersley Iron Pty Ltd v Forge Group Power Pty Ltd (In Liquidation) (Receivers and Managers appointed) [2017] WASC (2 June 2017).

What does this mean for you?