By Calum Jaspan
Sacked radio host Antoinette Lattouf has filed a second set of legal proceedings against the ABC, this time in the Federal Court, and alleges the broadcaster breached its own workplace agreement in the decision to dismiss her for sharing a Human Rights Watch Instagram post.
The case is in addition to the matter taken to the Fair Work Commission, which argued she was unlawfully dismissed from a short-term contract for sharing political opinion. Later she amended the claim to include racial discrimination.
Antoinette Lattouf and Maurice Blackburn lawyer Josh Bornstein earlier this month. Credit: Kate Geraghty
Lattouf’s legal team filed the latest application in the Federal Court on Thursday, and the ABC was served with a notification of the case on Friday afternoon. The presenter’s team wants both cases to be heard together in the Federal Court as soon as possible.
Lattouf is again being represented by Maurice Blackburn lawyer Josh Bornstein, and has added Noel Hutley, SC, to her team. Hutley is one of Australia’s best known silks, having worked for Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, for some time.
Bornstein and Hutley worked together on the recent Qantas dismissal case in the High Court, where the airline was found to have illegally sacked 1700 workers during the pandemic, which cost it as much as $200 million.
Lattouf has raised more than $100,000 through a GoFundMe page to date.
Bornstein told this masthead the ABC breached its enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) a number of times by dismissing Lattouf for misconduct in December, when she was three days into a five-day contract as presenter of the ABC Radio Sydney mornings show.
The agreement sets out the definition of misconduct and penalties.
“The EBA provides where there is an allegation of misconduct, a proper process is set out giving the person accused an opportunity to answer and respond to allegations,” Bornstein said.
He said this looked like a “textbook example” of a company making a hasty decision while engulfed in a brand management crisis.
“One minute she was being told what a great job she was doing, five minutes later she was packing her bags, and by the time she got home, The Australian reported she was sacked.
“That’s a bizarre sequence of events that can only be explained as an example of panicked brand management, trumping all other legal or other considerations.”
Bornstein said there was no possible basis for suggesting misconduct was involved.
“[She] is the only journalist to be sacked for posting fact, the same fact that was communicated by the ABC multiple times in its reporting,” he said.
The ABC declined to comment.
The ABC has previously denied Lattouf’s termination was unfair by arguing she was not required to complete the final two days of her casual contract, having failed to heed a directive from management to avoid posting on her social media about topics considered “controversial”.
The broadcaster later filed an amended defence seeking the case to be thrown out, arguing it was invalid because Lattouf, being a casual employee, was not sacked. The ABC says it paid Lattouf for the full five days.
The events following her dismissal have rocked the ABC, with leaked messages obtained by this masthead revealing a co-ordinated campaign by supporters of Israel urging for Lattouf to be removed in the lead-up to her dismissal on December 21.
Other staff have since claimed outgoing ABC chair Ita Buttrose and management staff buckled to external pressure, which led to a union-led vote of no confidence in managing director David Anderson.
Fair Work this month rejected Lattouf’s appeal seeking an order for the ABC to hand over communications records between Buttrose, Anderson and other parties in the days before and after her departure.
The legal fees for the case are expected to run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Bornstein said the ABC was under legal obligation to apply taxpayer funds as efficiently as possible under its own statute.
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