Howdy,
I'm just curious if there are any restrictions on whether colleagues can sign stat decs for you or is this dictated by your employer policies or is there a law on this?
I.e I'm writing a stat dec to say I'm unwell, I work with a Justice of the Peace, could they sign this for me and could I hand this to my employer. Would my employer have to accept this or could they reject it given a colleague has signed it?
There are no restrictions, provided the JP is discharging their obligations in accordance with their legal obligations. It's actually the JP's problem to manage (from a conflict perspective) not yours.
Check this out: You can now use myGov to create a digital Commonwealth statutory declaration, using your Digital Identity in place of a witness
Does a commonwealth stat dec work for sick leave or does it have to be a state one?
Not that the average HR/payroll person would know either, but I'm genuinely curious. A quick google didn't answer if for me.
Indeed, seems they may only apply in ACT and a few other protectorates. NT and other states appear to have their own requirements. Having now read what's required in Victoria it may be easier to just get a medical cert.
They can witness it, they can't sign it for you.
This, they sign as a witness.
Can the witness and the declarant be connected?
The witness cannot be the same person as the declarant. You cannot witness your own Commonwealth statutory declaration, even if you are an approved witness.
However, the Statutory Declarations Act 1959 does not prevent a witness from being a friend or family member of the declarant, or otherwise connected to the declarant or the contents of the statutory declaration – so long as that person is also an approved witness.
TIL they can witness even if they are related.
The role of a witness is merely to provide a level of surety that the person who is signing who they are claiming to be ie if you are signing as Kathy Bates then you are in fact Kathy Bates. The witness doesnt provide an assurance that the contents of what is being signed is accurate.
The witness being related potentially could increase the risk of collaborative fraud - the witness knows the person signing isnt the person they claim to be but is in on the deal so also makes a false statement. A truly independent person is a lower risk because they are less likely to be in cahoots. However, that doesnt mean the risk is high enough to stop a related person witnessing, particularly if the are on the list of approved witnesses (as with a stat dec) and will generally get in a fair bit of other trouble if they knowingly make a false representation. Its a red flag if there are allegations of fraud, but outside of that it doesnt prevent performance of the role of a witness ie confirming who is signing.
There are some times when the risk is too high - eg why a beneficiary traditionally cannot witness a will (but that has changed in some states, because it created a lot of people dying intestate or subject to very old and outdated wills when the evidence was clearly there was no manipulation by the beneficiary and it was an innocent mistake). Some institutions eg bank or passport applications I think dont allow relatives to witness.
anyway, your not requested legal tidbit for the day…
yes