Liability insurance for contractor pilot/instructor

[VH mick]

In a recent conversation with a financial adviser I was asked if I had public liability insurance. I told him that the company I contract to has public liability insurance. (I was recently an employee of the company but it seems it is now much easier / cheaper for them for me to be a contractor.

After thinking about his question, I have been wondering where I would stand if I had an accident due to pilot error , bent the A/C and someone got injured :\. At the moment I have no insurance covering myself. :=

Can any body recommend a good aviation Lawer / insurance broker who might give me some helpful advise. I'm in the Sydney area.

Thanks in advance.

Mick

[The PM]

the first thing to do might be to check out what actually constitutes being a "contractor". I seem to recall that if you receive over a certain % of your income from one source, you are deemed to be an employee, so worth checking out. Might refresh my memory actually.......

[LeadSled]

VH-Mick
You really seriously do need advice.
For Insurance -- W.D.Gelle Insurance at Parramatta, then talk to them about a solicitor.
Tootle pip!

[Horatio Leafblower]

Had this discussion with the financial controller of my organisation last month - we had just started a junior instructor and the FC's opinion was that hey the employment laws have changed, we'll make him a contractor.

I pointed out that:
a) we control his hours of work
b) we provide tools, materials;
c) we provide the system of work; and
d) we provide the students for him to train.

The simple upshot is that he is an employee, no matter which way you cut it, and yeah we are liable to pay workers comp etc etc etc. :=

[bushy]

This is a very common situation. Most of the piston engine pilots in the NT are called either casual pilots or contractors. Mostly it is only the CP, senior base pilot, or manager that are employed full time. It's not a very good situation for anyone, because no-one can be sure it will be viable in the long term, or even in the short term.. That's one reason why you hear so much complaining about poor pay. Often pilots do not get ebough hours (just like stacking shelves eh) to make a decent living, and often operators cannot do charters because they cannot get a pilot.
There is a company in Alice Springs (and probably many others elsewhere) that supplies labour (including pilots) for companies. They claim this is perfectly legal. (It's run by an ex polotician) Some time ago I looked at the contract the pilots signed, and it was similar to the GA pilot's award for casual pilots, except that instead of a minimum daily pay rate of four hours there was an hourly rate for ground time and waiting time. I'm not sure of the insurance arrangements, but I would not expect the operator would be paying for it.
If you are employed by someone they are required to provide super payments, workers comp insurance etc. Airports and others often require operators to have public liability insurance. It's prudent to check if this covers pilots.
This is the reason why many pilots join some sort of professional organisation.like AOPA,GAPAN.AFAP stc. These organisations have this sort of knowledge, but are usually reluctant to spend their members money looking after non members.
You can, of course consult a lawyer, or maybe get info from a govt department.

[ovum]

The PM

Correct - it's > 80%