LAW – AUSTRALIA – CASES

Caltex franchisee fined over false pay records

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Anna Patty
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: 24 : 28-Jun-18

The Federal Circuit Court has ordered former Caltex petrol station franchise operator Aulion to pay fines totalling $A80,190 for falsifying its employees’ wage records. The franchise’s owner Peter Dagher in turn has been fined $A16,038. The service station at Five Docks in Sydney is one of 15 that were investigated by the Fair Work Ombudsman over concerns about wage exploitation. The penalties for non-compliance have been significantly increased since 2016, when the breaches in question occurred.

CORPORATES
CALTEX AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX CTX, AULION PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT OF AUSTRALIA

CBA gets green light for BBSW settlement

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 22-Jun-18

Federal Court judge Jonathan Beach has ruled that the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s $A25m settlement for manipulating the bank bill swap rate is appropriate. Justice Jonathan Beach said the magnitude of the fines should be sufficient to deter similar misconduct. However, he criticised CBA’s bank bill traders for abusing their "privileged position" and questioned the adequacy of training and monitoring of the bank’s traders.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC

FWO loses bid to impose record fine against MUA

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 22-Jun-18

The Federal Court has ordered the Maritime Union of Australia to pay a $A38,000 fine over strike action at Hutchison Ports’ container terminals in 2015. The Fair Work Ombudsman had sought fines of up to $A3.5m over the unlawful industrial action, arguing that each work stoppage should have been treated as a separate breach of the Fair Work Act. Justice Jayne Jagot ruled that the strike comprised a single course of action and rejected the FWO’s push for Hutchison to be awarded more than $A620,000 in damages.

CORPORATES
MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, HUTCHISON PORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Legal standoff leaves mining leases in limbo

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 18-Jun-18

Mining companies continue to face uncertainty over the validity of their Western Australian mining leases in the wake of a High Court ruling in 2017. The state government committed to legislating to ensure that leases affected by the ruling are valid, but it has received legal advice to the effect that the federal government must first make amendments to the Native Title Act. The federal government in turn maintains that WA must first amend its Mining Act. The WA government estimates that nearly 25 per cent of mining leases that have been granted since 2006 could potentially be invalid.

CORPORATES
HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, ROY HILL HOLDINGS PTY LTD, WESTERN AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF MINES, INDUSTRY REGULATION AND SAFETY, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT, ASSOCIATION OF MINING AND EXPLORATION COMPANIES

CFMMEU penalties hit $15m after abuse case

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 2 : 15-Jun-18

The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union has been fined $A43,200 over the conduct of organiser Bradley Upton. The Federal Court ruled that Upton had sought to intimidate non-union workers on the Gorgon LNG project into joining the union at a meeting in December 2015. Justice Michael Barker said his conduct was "quite appalling" and fined him $A8,100. Workplace Minister Craig Laundy has warned that such conduct in the workplace will occur frequently under Labor’s proposed union right-of-entry laws.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION

Google braces for conga line of claims

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Michael Pelly
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 33 : 15-Jun-18

Mills Oakley partner Stuart Gibson says at least 20 defamation cases against Google could proceed after the High Court ruled that Michael Trkulja can take legal action against the digital giant. Gibson represented Trkulja in his bid to overturn the Victorian Court of Appeal’s ruling that he had no prospect of success in his claim against Google. Trkulja launched legal action after search engine results implied that he was linked to Melbourne’s underworld.

CORPORATES
GOOGLE INCORPORATED, MILLS OAKLEY LAWYERS PTY LTD, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, COURT OF APPEAL (VICTORIA), YAHOO! INCORPORATED, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

Taxpayers slugged for failed union action

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 5 : 6-Jun-18

The Australian Building & Construction Commission has spent more than $A44,000 in a failed bid to overturn a court’s decision to dismiss a case against the militant Construction, Forestry, Maritime & Mining Energy Union. The ABCC’s legal costs in the original case had exceeded $A666,000. The case had concerned a blockade at a construction site in Canberra, with the ABCC contending that the industrial action was aimed at forcing the builder to sign an enterprise agreement.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, AUSTRALIA. REGISTERED ORGANISATIONS COMMISSION

Fels supports cartel case against banks

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Patrick Durkin
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 5-Jun-18

The ANZ Bank, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank are facing criminal charges relating to alleged cartel behaviour regarding the sale of shares that were not taken up in an ANZ capital raising in 2015. The first hearing in the case, which has been instigated by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, is due to take place on 3 July. Former ACCC chairman Allan Fels says the case against the three companies appears to be a very technical one, and that their lawyers will be working hard to come up with a technical defence.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, DEUTSCHE BANK AG, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS, ADLEY BURSTYNER, NRMA INSURANCE LIMITED

ANZ cartel matter unsettles financial community

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Jonathan Shapiro
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 4-Jun-18

Many legal experts expect that persuading a jury that the parties involved in the ANZ Bank’s cartel case had deliberately sought to break the law will be hard, while others note that a civil case would be easier to win. The Director of Public Prosecutions is pursuing a criminal cartel case against ANZ, Citi and Deutsche Bank on behalf of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission. A third investment bank, JP Morgan, has been granted immunity from prosecution.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, DEUTSCHE BANK AG, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS, COUNTRY CARE, UNILEVER PLC, BRITISH VIRGIN, CUSSONS

Watchdog tests its extra bite on building union

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 8 : 30-May-18

The Australian Building & Construction Commission alleges that a blockade organised by three Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union representatives in May 2017 breached workplace laws. The ABCC’s legal action contends that the blockade of two Melbourne construction sites constituted a breach of the unlawful picketing provisions of the Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Act. The union representatives claimed that they had prevented workers from accessing the site on a designated rostered day off.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA