Legal news
What do you say when a client asks you to own the intellectual property in the design work you create for them? Do you take a step back aghast at their audacity? Are you confused or suspicious as to what they are after and why? Do you flat out refuse? Or do you agree but don’t really understand what you have agreed to?
The Fair Work Commission (Commission) has upheld a company’s smoking ban following a challenge by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU). Commissioner Tony Saunders held that the employer’s direction to ban smoking at its workplace, a complex which was comprised of two open cut mines and a coal handling and preparation plant (CHPP), was lawful and reasonable.
The ban meant that employees who wanted to smoke were required to drive 2.8km to the complex’s front gate to smoke.
The Lantern Legal Group, comprised of law firms Sladen Legal and Harwood Andrews, was recently nominated for the B Corp ‘Rookie of the Year’ award at the B Corp Champions Retreat in Portland, USA. This award acknowledges businesses that have actively contributed to the B Corp movement and made a positive impact in their communities over the past year.
Lantern Legal Group was the only Australian business to be nominated in this category, which includes well-known international businesses
In August 2015, Part 1 of a 2 part series written by Sladen Legal's Renuka Somers and Ashleigh Eynaud was published in the Tax Institute’s Journal, Taxation in Australia.
It discusses some of the unresolved issues and complexities associated with the taxation treatment of trust unpaid present entitlements for Division 7A purposes and bad debt write-offs, despite the Australian Taxation Office’s attempts to address these matters in draft Taxation Determinations TD 2015/D4 and TD 2015/D5.
The Federal Treasury has released the Exposure Draft for the Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2015 Measures No. 6) Bill 2015: Small business restructure rollovers to amend the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to allow small businesses to defer gains and losses arising from the transfer of capital gains tax assets, depreciating assets, trading stock and revenue assets between entities as part of a restructure.
The proposed amendments attempt to provide greater flexibility for small businesses to change the legal structure through which they operate without triggering adverse taxation consequences.
From 9 November 2015, all dealings with Victoria’s Land Registry will require parties to satisfy strict verification of identity requirements (generally referred to as “VOI”). In addition, these VOI requirements also apply to persons who are given custody of a certificate of title.
The new requirements aim to reduce fraud by placing an obligation on conveyancing professionals to take reasonable steps to verify that a person signing a document is who they say they are and that they have the right to transact with the land.
