The employer succeeded on its s 81A referral: the Tribunal found a reasonably arguable case that TQN was not a 'worker' under the Act, and ordered that weekly compensation payments and Division 2 benefits not be paid by the employer pending a final hearing. The decision turned on factual concerns about whether the relationship between TQN (sole director of the trustee company) and the company was a genuine contract of service, particularly given payslip anomalies showing no leave taken over Christmas/New Year and no penalty rates for public holidays. The Tribunal accepted that a trust cannot be an employer but that a corporate trustee can, and that a sole director can in principle be a worker of the company (Lee v Lees Airfarming), but held that the totality of the relationship required testing at a final hearing. The question of whether TQN is in fact a worker remains open for final determination.
The full text is available to signed-in members.