A Federal Circuit Court judgment raises questions about the Fair Work Ombudsman’s appetite to enforce workplace laws on construction sites since Labor took power.
Judge Salvatore Vasta still fined the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union and its officials more than $135,000 for other “appalling” wrongdoing.But he said the Fair Work Ombudsman backing down from “the most serious” allegation in the case could give the public the perception it had “not lived up to its purpose” and does not “treat all victims equally and all perpetrators equally”.
The dropped charge – which was originally before the ABCC – alleged a CFMEU official told a project manager that he would “” if he did not use the union’s picks of subcontractors on a government job. The project manager was also accused by the union official of corruptly paying Queensland government officials.
The trio failed to sign the visitor register at the site despite being asked to do so by the occupier.But he warned the FWO that dropping the threat claim may create “a perception that it had not complied with its obligations as a model litigant”, such as its duties to act as transparently and consistently as possible.
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