INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT 1988 No. 86 of 1988 - SECT 255 Validation of certain acts done in good faith

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT 1988 No. 86 of 1988 - SECT 255

255. (1) Subject to this section and section 257, all acts done in good faith
by a collective body of an organisation or branch of an organisation, or by
persons purporting to act as such a collective body, are valid in spite of any
invalidity that may later be discovered in:

   (a)  the election or appointment of the collective body, any member of the
        collective body or the persons or any of the persons purporting to act
        as the collective body; or

   (b)  the making or alteration of a rule of the organisation or branch.

(2) Subject to this section and section 257, all acts done in good faith by a
person holding or purporting to hold an office or position in an organisation
or branch are valid in spite of any invalidity that may later be discovered
in:

   (a)  the election or appointment of the person; or

   (b)  the making or alteration of a rule of the organisation or branch.

(3) For the purposes of this section:

   (a)  a person shall not be treated as purporting to act as a member of a
        collective body of an organisation or as the holder of an office or
        position in an organisation unless the person has, in good faith,
        purported to be, and has been treated by officers or members of the
        organisation as being, such a member or the holder of the office or
        position; and

   (b)  a person shall not be treated as purporting to act as a member of a
        collective body of a branch of an organisation or as the holder of an
        office or position in the branch unless the person has, in good faith,
        purported to be, and has been treated by officers or members of the
        branch as being, such a member or the holder of the office or
        position.

(4) For the purposes of this section:

   (a)  an act is to be treated as done in good faith until the contrary is
        proved;

   (b)  a person who has purported to be a member of a collective body of an
        organisation or branch is to be treated as having done so in good
        faith until the contrary is proved;

   (c)  knowledge of facts from which an invalidity arises is not of itself to
        be treated as knowledge that the invalidity exists;

   (d)  an invalidity in:

        (i)    the election or appointment of a collective body of a branch of
               an organisation or any member of such a collective body;

        (ii)   the election or appointment of the persons or any of the
               persons purporting to act as a collective body of a branch;

        (iii)  the election or appointment of a person holding or purporting
               to hold an office or position in a branch; or

        (iv)   the making or alteration of a rule of a branch; shall not be
               treated as discovered before the earliest time proved to be a
               time when the existence of the invalidity was known to a
               majority of the members of the committee of management of the
               branch or to a majority of the persons purporting to act as the
               committee of management; and

   (e)  an invalidity in any other election or appointment or in the making or
        alteration of a rule to which this section applies shall not be
        treated as discovered before the earliest time proved to be a time
        when the existence of the invalidity was known to a majority of the
        members of the committee of management of the organisation or to a
        majority of the persons purporting to act as that
        committee of management.

(5) This section applies:

   (a)  to an act whenever done (including an act done before the commencement
        of this section); and

   (b)  to an act done in relation to an association before it became an
        organisation.

(6) Nothing in this section validates the expulsion or suspension of, or the
imposition of a fine or any other penalty on, a member of an organisation that
would not have been valid if this section had not been enacted.

(7) Nothing in this section affects the operation of Division 5.