F. Business disputes and legal action

F. Business disputes and legal action

Employment disputes

If you are involved in a dispute about employment contracts, including wages payment and other conditions of employment, then you may go to the Labour Relations Division of the Labour Department to seek a preliminary consultation or voluntary conciliation service. If you wish to initiate legal action or defend a claim that has been made, then your case will be heard by the Labour Tribunal. Claims for work-related injuries must be taken to the District Court. More information can be found in the Employment Disputes topic.

Disputes in contract or tort

Cases that involve monetary claims that do not exceed $75,000 will be heard by the Small Claims Tribunal. If the amount of the claim is over $75,000 but not more than $3,000,000, the case will be heard by the District Court. If the plaintiff is claiming for more than $3,000,000, such a case will be handled by the Court of First Instance of the High Court.

Further details about the procedures for legal action concerning breach of contract, debt recovery or claims for compensation can be found in the topic of Bringing or Defending a Civil Case.

You can also consider resolving the dispute through mediation or arbitration without going to court. More information about these options is available in the Alternative Dispute Resolution topic.

Bankruptcy and winding-up

Bankruptcy and winding-up are methods of closing down a business (or other person's business), and should only be considered as a last resort. Bankruptcy is an insolvency court action that is taken against a person (e.g. a sole proprietorship or partners in a partnership), whereas winding-up targets limited companies. For more details, please refer to the Bankruptcy Information, Individual Voluntary Arrangement and Winding-Up of Companies topic.