In limited circumstances the Act now allows for people other than an inspector to take prosecution action.

This possibility depends on what an inspector has decided to do about a particular incident or situation.

A prosecution by someone else is only possible if an inspector has looked at the circumstances and has decided to take no action at all against any of the parties involved. If the inspector has chosen to prosecute one party for one offence, or even issue an infringement notice to one party, then prosecution action by anyone else is no longer possible.

This is because the prosecuting authority (the Department of Labour) has made a judgement about what formal enforcement action is appropriate in the circumstances and the alleged offender(s) should not thereafter be subject to further scrutiny.

But if the inspector has decided to take no action at all, a private prosecution may proceed.

Persons interested in pursuing prosecution action need to express their interest to the Department so that the Department can tell them whether or not they are gong to prosecute or use an infringement notice.

If a person wishes to pursue prosecution action after the Department decided to take no action at all, they normally need to do so within 6 months of the Department finding out about the offending. But they can get the District Court to give them longer if the inspector's decision-making took up most of the 6 month timeframe.

A person considering taking prosecution action needs to be able to prove the offending beyond reasonable doubt in the same way that an inspector would have had to.

Go to:

• Penalties for most offences
• Penalties for knowingly causing serious harm
• Fact sheet: Fine levels pdf file [size: 28KB ]