EMPLOYEES – DISMISSAL OF – AUSTRALIA

Bleak Xmas for ex-Qantas staff who won $210m payout

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Tansy Harcourt
The Australian – Page: 14 : 24-Dec-25

It has been revealed that more than 1,800 former Qantas ground staff have received just 10 per cent of the compensation they were awarded for being unlawfully sacked during the pandemic. Qantas had paid $120m into to a compensation fund administered by law firm Maurice Blackburn in early 2025, while a court subsequently ruled that $40m of Qantas’s record fine of $90m should also be distributed to the baggage handlers. However, some of the workers only received a payment this week, and only because the Federal Court’s Justice Michael Lee recently ruked that each worker must recieve an interim payment of $3,333 before Christmas.

CORPORATES
QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, MAURICE BLACKBURN PTY LTD, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Sacked Qantas workers’ record $120m payout

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Ayesha de Kretser
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 18-Dec-24

Qantas has agreed to pay $120m in compensation to 1,683 ground handling workers whose jobs were outsourcd in 2020. The Transport Workers Union’s national secretary Michael Kaine has welcomed the deal; he says that "delivering justice" to the affected workers is "the first step in turning Qantas around". Economic and non-economic losses will be considered in determining each worker’s share of the payout. Qantas had argued that the outsourcing was necessary in response to the pandemic, but Federal Court ruled that the workers had been illegally sacked to prevent them from exercising their workplace right to take industrial action.

CORPORATES
QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, TRANSPORT WORKERS’ UNION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Fair Work Commission finds journalist and presenter Antoinette Lattouf was sacked by ABC

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Isobel Roe
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 4-Jun-24

The Fair Work Commission has found that journalist and presenter Antoinette Lattouf was sacked by the ABC, after she was taken off air part way through a radio presenting stint in December. With Lattouf having lodged a claim against the ABC for unfair dismissal, it had argued that her employment was not actually terminated, as she had been paid for all of the five days on which she was scheduled to broadcast. The Commission’s ruling paves the way for Lattouf to pursue an unlawful termination case against the ABC, with that case having been filed in the Federal Court.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING ASSOCIATION, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Teal MP Ryan sued over sacking for unreasonable hours

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Ronald Mizen, Michael Read
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 1-Feb-23

The enterprise agreement for staff of federal MPs provides for them to receive an allowance for when they are required to work "reasonable additional hours" over and above the ordinary hours of duty. The court application filed by Sally Rugg shows that the former chief of staff to independent MP Monique Ryan alleges that she was sacked for refusing to work "unreasonable" hours. Rugg will contend that her dismissal constitutes a breach of the Fair Work Act because it was in response to her exercising a workplace right. She is seeking an injunction to prevent her termination from taking effect until the dispute is resolved, as well as compensation from Ryan and the federal government. The enterprise agreement does not define what constitutes "reasonable hours".

CORPORATES

ABC’s botched doco to cost jobs

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Sophie Elsworth
The Australian – Page: 19 : 4-Oct-21

The ABC recently withdrew a mini-series examining the 1975 disappearance of Sydney activist Juanita Nielsen from its streaming platform, after it was revealed that the mini-series may have aired false claims. It is believed that some people at the ABC may lose their jobs as a result, with the controversy regarding the Juanita Nielsen mini-series coming not long after an independent assessment into an ABC program into the 1979 Sydney Luna Park fire that killed seven people found it was misleading and had incorrectly implied a relationship between former NSW premier Neville Wran and underworld figure Abe Saffron.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

BHP sacks second worker accused of rape

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 24-Jun-21

News that BHP has sacked a second worker accused of rape will not encourage women or men to join the mining industry, according to women in mining advocate Sabina Shugg. The two former employees are both ‘fly in, fly out’ workers accused of raping female colleagues in unrelated incidents. Both have denied the police charges against them and have accused BHP of unfair dismissal.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP

FWC ruling a win for casual workers

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 6 : 24-Jan-20

The full bench of the Fair Work Commission has ruled that a casual sales assistant at Bed Bath N’ Table is entitled to pursue an unfair dismissal claim against the retailer. FWC deputy president Amanda Man­sini had previously ruled that the employee was not covered by unfair dismissal laws, as her employment was not regular and systematic. However, the full bench rejected Mansini’s reasoning and ruled that the case can proceed.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, BED BATH AND TABLE

Sorry rugby chiefs pay Folau millions

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Remy Varga
The Australian – Page: 1 & 7 : 5-Dec-19

Rugby Australia has agreed to a confidential settlement with sacked player Israel Folau, who had been seeking $14m in compensation. He is expected to be paid several million dollars to settle the dispute, with Rugby Australia issuing an apology for any hurt or harm caused to Folau and his wife. Folau in turn has used a joint statement to apologise for any hurt or harm his social media comments had caused. The Australian Christian Lobby has advised that people who donated money for Folau’s legal defence will be entitled to a pro-rata refund.

CORPORATES
RUGBY AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN CHRISTIAN LOBBY

No way to Wiggle out of sacking

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 3 : 25-Nov-19

The Fair Work Commission has thrown out an unfair dismissal claim by a Toyota dealership employee who took personal leave under false pretences. Sean Mamo had requested leave to care for his son, but his employer became aware that Mamo had in fact used the paid day off to take his son out, after photos of them at a Wiggles concert were posted on social media. FWC deputy president Alan Colman said the fact that Mamo claimed a payment to which he was not entitled was sufficient grounds for his dismissal.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Religion bill will make it harder to sack people

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 30-Aug-19

Attorney-General Christian Porter released a draft of the federal government’s proposed Religious Discrimination Bill on 29 August. Porter says the legislation aims to protect people on the basis of their religion, but does not give them a "licence to discriminate against other people", or to engage in vilifying or harassing speech. Under the proposed legislation, a company with turnover of at least $50 million that sacks someone for expressing a religious view that breaches a condition of their employment will need to show that retaining the employee could cause it "unjustifiable financial hardship”.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT