Salsano v Cemento Group Pty Ltd

In *Salsano v Cemento Group Pty Ltd*, the applicant, Mr Salsano, commenced proceedings in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia seeking unpaid wages. The respondent, Cemento Group Pty Ltd, applied for summary dismissal of the proceedings on three grounds: that the Court lacked jurisdiction, that Mr Salsano had commenced proceedings while an undischarged bankrupt, and that the statement of claim disclosed no reasonable cause of action.

The central legal issues before Judge Manousaridis were whether the Federal Circuit Court possessed jurisdiction to hear the claim for unpaid wages, whether Mr Salsano's claim for wages constituted "property" that vested in his trustee in bankruptcy, and whether the statement of claim, as pleaded, disclosed arguable causes of action.

Judge Manousaridis determined that the Federal Circuit Court had jurisdiction to hear the claim. His Honour reasoned that a claim for unpaid wages, being a personal entitlement arising from employment, did not fall within the definition of "property" that automatically vests in a trustee in bankruptcy under the *Bankruptcy Act 1966* (Cth). Furthermore, the Court found that the statement of claim sufficiently pleaded arguable causes of action, meaning the claim was not so obviously without merit as to warrant summary dismissal. Consequently, the application for summary dismissal was dismissed.