Latest news with #JusticeMichaelLee
Daily Mail
04-06-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
How Brittany Higgins was awarded 40 years in lost wages after being diagnosed as medically unfit to work - before getting a job four years later
Brittany Higgins now has a job - four years after she was awarded $2.4million from the federal government after claiming she was 'diagnosed as medically unfit for any form of employment'. The former Liberal staffer made a compensation claim for damages in March 2022 after alleging she was raped in parliament by her former colleague, Bruce Lehrmann. He has always denied the claims but was found to have raped Ms Higgins on the balance of probabilities by Justice Michael Lee in April last year - a decision Lehrmann is currently appealing. In Ms Higgins' draft statement of claim, first reported by The Australian newspaper, it was stated that she had a 'reasonable expectation of being promoted regularly and to eventually pursue her own political career, before suffering from the injuries and disabilities'. She had been 'diagnosed as medically unfit for any form of employment, and has been given a very poor prognosis for future employment'. The claim suggested she was therefore due over $2.5 million in economic loss for 40 years' of missed earnings. These claims were untested in court given Ms Higgins was awarded the $2.4 million by payout after one day of mediation talks. Over half of the sum was in respect of her loss of earnings, while the rest was made up of medical expenses, legal costs and '$400,000 for hurt, distress and humiliation'. Despite once claiming not to be able to work again, Ms Higgins this week revealed she is returning to the workforce, joining the same company where her husband is employed. The 30-year-old is now the director of public affairs at the public relations agency Third Hemisphere, the Australian Financial Review first reported. Her appointment came soon after her husband David Sharaz announced in March he had taken on the role of director at the agency. The pair are working from home as they juggle their roles with looking after their son Freddie who was born on March 2. It is the first full-time job for Ms Higgins since she was a ministerial media adviser and was thrust into the limelight when she made rape claims against colleague Bruce Lehrmann. Following the trials, Ms Higgins became an advocate for survivors of sexual assault. Ms Higgins explained her move to Third Hemisphere came after fostering a connection with the firm's founder and CEO Hannah Moreno. Ms Moreno was also a rape and domestic violence survivor who campaigns for gender equality and fights against sexual harassment. Ms Higgins shared the news of her appointment on Instagram with the caption: 'Your girl is finally back in the workforce!' 'There was this general feeling of "how long do I have to be the story for?" At what point do I get to put it to rest... and have my own identity outside this narrative of Brittany Higgins,' Ms Higgins said. 'I also have a brand reputation and I don't want to align myself in a corporate sense with someone that could be doing something untoward. 'I had to join a team that I fundamentally believe in and which believes in the same things that I do.' Ms Higgins said the role would be her first step in following her role models, including Governor-General Samantha Mostyn, Indigenous social activist and business executive Tanya Hosch and business executive Christine Holgate. In her new position, Ms Higgins will work with clients on reputation management and strategic advocacy. She will also handle stakeholder engagement, media relations and public affairs initiatives which create public discussion. Ms Higgins shared the news of her appointment to Instagram on Wednesday with the caption: 'Your girl is finally back in the workforce!' In August 2021, Mr Lehrmann was identified as the Liberal Party staffer accused of raping Ms Higgins inside Parliament House in 2019. Ms Higgins shared her alleged sexual assault ordeal with Channel 10 journalist Lisa Wilkinson in an interview aired on The Project. Lehrmann has always denied the allegations. Lehrmann faced the ACT Supreme Court in late 2022 but the case was dropped after a juror brought outside research into the deliberation room. Another criminal trial did not happen, with prosecutors citing concern for Ms Higgins' mental health. In 2023, Lehrmann launched legal proceedings against Wilkinson and Channel 10, claiming he'd been defamed by The Project episode. The ruling in that lawsuit left Lehrmann's reputation in ruins with Justice Michael Lee finding that, on the balance of probabilities, he raped Ms Higgins. He has appealed the ruling with the case to go before the Federal Court of Australia in August. After quitting her role as Liberal Party media adviser, Ms Higgins worked on short-term contracts at the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria and the Queensland Human Rights Commission. She also signed a book deal with Penguin Random House in 2021 for a tell-all memoir about her time in Parliament and the moment Lehrmann allegedly raped her. The final 90,000-word autobiography was meant to hit shelves in 2022, but publishers placed it on indefinite hold due to legal issues - namely, because the trial against Mr Lehrmann fell over and he was never convicted. It emerged this week that Mr Lehrmann is working unpaid as a live-in nanny to the children of a close friend as he awaits further trials.
News.com.au
21-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Qantas claims it made ‘a mistake' in illegally sacking 1820 ground workers
Qantas says it has 'learnt its lesson' after unlawfully sacking more than 1800 ground workers, claiming the decision was a 'mistake' rather than deliberate. The airline was thrice found to have acted unlawfully when it fired 1820 staff in favour of outsourced contractors during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. While an earlier compensation hearing before Justice Michael Lee found Qantas should pay $120 million to impacted workers, now a hearing will decide the added penalty Qantas must pay for the 2020 decision. The hearing in the Federal Court in Sydney continued on Wednesday for its third day before Justice Lee, where Barrister for Qantas Justin Gleeson SC continued his submissions. Mr Gleeson told the court Qantas's decision was 'a mistake' and not 'intentional'. 'Going forward your honour can be comfortably satisfied Qantas has learnt its lesson,' he said. 'Through Ms Walsh's division and the board … the risk of making this error again is low. 'Qantas is coming to your honour as a first offender … and it would be oppressive to say you should pay close to the maximum penalty.' Various meetings between senior managers at Qantas, a GMC meeting and a board meeting came under the microscope in court on Wednesday. Mr Gleeson contended the problem with the outsourcing decision was not exposed to the GMC or board members during the meetings. 'Effectively the green light was given (to the board) … the problem was there but it was not exposed to the GMC or to the board and that's to be taken into account when assessing the liability,' he said. Mr Gleeson said the process 'fell down' when it had not come to the attention of anyone at the GMC level that a red flag needed to be put up when making the decision. Earlier in the hearing, Mr Gleeson said the airline is seeking a penalty between $40-$80m. 'We submit the penalty should be in the mid-range,' he said. Mr Gleeson said any penalty close to the maximum would be 'manifestly unfair'. 'Qantas has accepted the seriousness of its conduct,' he said. 'The court can and should impose a significant deterrent penalty. However, it is in effect a first contravention (of the fair work act).' The maximum penalty Qantas can be ordered to pay is $121m, on top of the $120m compensation fund that is now in the process of being administered to workers. Earlier the Transport Workers Union called for the maximum penalty be inflicted upon Qantas, and said the flying kangaroo was faced with a 'once-in-a-lifetime opportunity' during the pandemic to save more than $100m per year. Noel Hutley SC said the airline had the 'temptation of the potential to produce a massive profit'. In his submissions on Tuesday, Mr Hutley said Qantas had acted with 'arrogance and a dismissive and self-justified attitude towards these events' that it was 'dragging out'. While Justice Lee is yet to decide exactly who will receive the money from the penalty imposed upon Qantas, there are three likely parties proposed. The TWU is seeking a large majority of the penalty, and also argued effected workers should receive further compensation. Otherwise, the funds could go directly to the commonwealth. The Federal Court earlier found that Qantas had acted against protections in the Fair Work Act in its outsourcing and was partly motivated by a desire to prevent industrial action. The airline appealed the decision to the full bench of the Federal Court and later the High Court, both of which were unsuccessful. After losing the appeal, the union and Qantas went to mediation to determine how much Qantas would have to pay the outsourced workers for economic losses linked to lost wages. The hearing before Justice Michael Lee is expected to span over five days, ending on Friday.
Daily Mail
20-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Qantas lashed for 'hollow' apology after almost 2,000 workers were axed from the airline in biggest case of illegal sacking in Australia's history
An apology by Qantas for sacking 1,820 ground crew rings 'wholly hollow' and it has failed to make changes that ensure such actions never happen again, a judge has been told. In the Federal Court in Sydney on Tuesday, Justice Michael Lee continued hearing submissions on the penalty to be imposed on Qantas for the biggest case of illegal sackings in Australian history. Last October, Justice Lee ordered Qantas to pay $120million to the ground staff as compensation for their economic loss, pain and suffering since their jobs were outsourced during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Transport Workers Union is seeking that he impose the maximum penalty of $121million and order that the money be paid to the union. Noel Hutley SC, for the union, told Justice Lee that he should reject Qantas' submission that after four-and-a-half years of litigation, it was now contrite. 'Your Honour will not brush aside, as Qantas urges in its submissions, its vehement and regular denials of wrongdoing (and) its rejection of Your Honour's findings, which persisted all the way to the High Court,' he said. 'These reveal an attitude of adamantine self-righteousness.' Since the High Court ruled against Qantas' appeal no senior executive of the airline had publicly accepted it broke the law or Justice Lee's conclusions until Monday, Mr Hutley said. 'The contrition rings wholly hollow.' There had been 'a profound failure' within Qantas 'to come to terms with what needs to occur to avoid these things happening again', he said. The court should order that the penalty be paid to the TWU, which had taken on enormous risks and burdens to fight the sackings, Mr Hutley said. 'If the penalty is paid to my client, my client is an organisation charged with advancing the interests of its members... and the money would be applied to the proper purposes of the organisation.' On Monday, Qantas chief people officer Catherine Walsh told Justice Lee that 'hopefully you'll see from the size of the compensation payment that, in fact, we are very sorry'. 'We do wish for the workforce that was impacted to be properly remediated and the compensation that has been agreed could go some way to deal with that,' she said. Outside court, former Qantas worker Damien Pollard said union members were looking forward to the conclusion of the case 'to allow us to get on with our lives'. 'It's been a long fight, it's been very stressful for a lot of employees, so we are looking forward to the end,' he said.
Daily Mail
19-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
High profile judge unleashes on Qantas as his verdict over the illegal sacking of hundreds of workers looms
The corporate world must be sent a message that it 'can't play the court for a fool', says a judge who will decide Qantas ' penalty for illegally sacking more than 1800 workers. Justice Michael Lee will set the penalty after three days of hearings that began on Monday in the Federal Court in Sydney. Last October, Justice Lee ordered Qantas to pay $120 million to the ground staff as compensation for their economic loss, pain and suffering since their jobs were outsourced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Transport Workers Union is seeking that he impose the maximum penalty of $121 million. Justice Lee said he was interested in hearing from both sides about specific and general deterrence, 'even if I was to accept there has been some 'road to Damascus'-type conversion' (within Qantas) since the start of 2024. '(But) the message must be sent to the broader corporate community that you can't play the court for a fool and try to fashion your evidence in a careful way in order to try to dissemble what went on,' he said. He asked Noel Hutley SC, for the TWU, if it would be his submission that the demands of general deterrence in this case are so strong 'that it would require the imposition of the maximum penalty'. Mr Hutley said it would not serve deterrence if large and sophisticated employers were able to conclude that 'if you're a little bit more careful' than Qantas its decision becomes a guide card to devastate large numbers of people'. Qantas made a 'ruthless calculation to prefer the expected commercial benefits of outsourcing over the interests of these loyal workers', he said. 'Qantas was prepared to sacrifice these individuals during what would have been an immensely difficult time for them during COVID,' Mr Hutley said. 'It was a callous decision.' Qantas had calculated the commercial benefit to be $100 million a year. Earlier, Qantas chief people officer Catherine Walsh told Justice Lee that 'hopefully you'll see from the size of the compensation payment that, in fact, we are very sorry'. 'We do wish for the workforce that was impacted to be properly remediated and the compensation that has been agreed could go some way to deal with that,' she said. The compensation payments will start flowing to workers by the end of May, with a base payment of $10,000 for all workers. Outside court, TWU national secretary Michael Kaine said Qantas had 'said sorry at two minutes to midnight'. 'They put it in an affidavit in these proceedings, because if you show contrition in penalty proceedings, the judge is bound to consider whether that should provide you with a discount on your penalty,' he said. He said the penalty should reflect the 'human suffering, the family dislocation, the financial stress, the mental anguish, the family breakdowns' directly resulting from Qantas' illegal conduct. Also outside court, former Qantas worker Tony Hayes said the saga was 'never ending'. 'It's been the same conversation for five years and we just want it to go away, but we want them to pay,' he said. Another former worker Anne Guirguis said she was with the company for 28 years and thought she would retire there. 'I've got colleagues that have lost houses and have been divorced, it's changed their world,' she said.
