New South Wales Consolidated Acts

WORKERS COMPENSATION ACT 1987 - SECT 156B

156B Recovery from directors of corporation-insurance requirements

(1) If the Authority is entitled to recover an amount from a corporation under section 156 (even if the corporation has ceased to exist) and the amount is not recoverable from the corporation, the Authority is entitled to recover the amount from a person who was a culpable director of the corporation at the relevant time.

(2) An amount is considered to be not recoverable from a corporation if the Authority certifies that it will be unable or unlikely to recover the amount from the corporation by reasonable efforts at recovery, whether because the corporation is being wound up and is unable to pay its debts, or otherwise.

(3) A person is a culpable director of a corporation at the relevant time if the person was a director of the corporation at any time during the contravention to which the entitlement of the Authority relates (whether or not the corporation has been proceeded against or convicted of an offence in respect of that contravention).

(4) A person is not a culpable director of a corporation if the person establishes that:

(a) the contravention by the corporation occurred without the person’s knowledge, or

(b) the person was not in a position to influence the conduct of the corporation in relation to the contravention, or

(c) the person, being in such a position, used all due diligence to prevent the contravention by the corporation.

(5) If there is a right of recovery against more than one director of a corporation in respect of the same amount, the right is a right against all those directors jointly and severally.

(6) A director from whom an amount is recovered under this section is entitled to recover the amount from the corporation.

(7) This section does not apply to an entitlement of the Authority under section 156 that arises from the failure by a corporation to obtain or maintain insurance in respect of any period before the commencement of this section.