The Adelaide Law School’s Work and Employment Regulation research group and the SA Chapter of the Australian Labour Law Association invite you to a seminar on the High Court’s landmark ruling in Commonwealth Bank v Barker:
Mutual Trust and Confidence in the Employment Relationship: The High Court Decides
The High Court has just handed down a landmark ruling on whether employers are under an implied contractual obligation not to seriously damage or destroy the “mutual trust and confidence” said to be inherent in employment relationships. In Commonwealth Bank of Australia v Barker [2014] HCA 32 the court allowed an appeal against a finding that the Bank had breached such an obligation in the way it handled a decision to retrench an executive manager. The five judges who heard the appeal were unanimous in finding that such a term was not a “necessary” incident of the employment contract, not least because recognition of such an obligation would involve “complex policy considerations … more appropriate for the legislature than for the courts to determine”. But they left open the possibility of future arguments based on a suggested “general obligation to act in good faith in the performance of contracts”.
Please join the Adelaide Law School’s Gabrielle Golding and Professor Andrew Stewart to hear them explain the decision and discuss its implications for both employers and workers. There will also be a commentary from the Crown Advocate for South Australia, Dr Chris Bleby SC.
Where: Moot Court, Level 1 (ground floor), Adelaide Law School (Ligertwood Building, North Terrace)
When: Friday 19 September 2014, 12:30 to 1:45pm
RSVP: Please RSVP to lawenquiry@adelaide.edu.au or 08 8313 5063.
As this is an open event, please feel free to circulate to anyone else whom you think may be interested.
