Jade said find the answer to this
Remedies -Tutorial 7, Week 8
Reading: Covell & Lupton, Chapter 4
Question 1
a) Sparks Electrical Pty Ltd [sparks] manufactured electronic components for aeroplanes. Sparks employed 120 workers. Of these, 20 were experts in their field. The experts were not on the Sparks’ payroll as they were independent contractors. They billed Sparks for their services. The contractors did, however, work on the Sparks’ premises.
Greedy Local Council had passed a by-law that charged businesses in the Council’s jurisdiction with an “Use Road Fee”. The manufacturer or business was required to pay the Council $1000 per annum for each worker that attended the business premises. The purpose of the fee was to assist in road maintenance throughout the Council’s district.
Sparks paid the fees for its 120 workers over a period of five years. Bright Spark, the director’s daughter, had recently graduated from law school. She discovered that Sparks paid this fee to the Council. She was suspicious that the payment was wrong. Bright also learned that 20 of the workers were not “workers” as defined by the Council’s by-law. The by-law defined a worker as an emloyee of the company. Because the contractors were true independent contractors they would be exempted from the by-law.
Bright and the Company decided to take the Council to task for taking the payments made for the independent contractors. Will she succeed? What recompense might she recover for the company?
b) Through her diligent research, Bright discovered that the Greedy Council was ultra vires in making the “Use Road Fee” by-law. Does this make any difference to her case?