Compensation for Lattouf

The ABC was last week ordered to pay freelance journalist Antoinette Lattouf $70,000 in compensation after the Federal Court ruled she was unlawfully terminated from her radio presenting role.

Federal Court Justice Darryl Rangiah found the ABC breached the Fair Work Act when it told Lattouf she was not required for the final two days of a five-day casual stint on ABC Radio Sydney in December 2023.

Lattouf was removed from air after sharing a Human Rights Watch (HRW) post that stated, “The Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a weapon of war in Gaza.” The ABC received complaints about Lattouf’s lack of impartiality. Rangiah described these complaints as an “orchestrated campaign by pro-Israel lobbyists to have Ms Lattouf taken off air”.

Lattouf claimed her employment contract was unlawfully terminated, in breach of section 772 of the Fair Work Act due to expression of her political opinion and/or her race and that the ABC breached the staff enterprise agreement.

The ABC denied these allegations claiming it ended Lattouf’s employment for reasons not relating to her political opinion or race but because she failed to follow a direction from her producer not to post on social media anything about the Israel-Gaza war and because she contravened the ABC’s social media guidelines.

Rangiah said Lattouf’s HRW post “was ill-advised and inconsiderate of her employer” but found Lattouf had not been given a “direction”, but general guidance, and that ABC could not identify any breaches of the social media or editorial guidelines policies.

The judge did not support Lattouf’s claim that she was terminated because of her race or national extraction, but did find the ABC breached section 772 of the FWA and the enterprise agreement.

ABC managing director Hugh Marks said the ABC’s rules regarding employees’ personal use of social media would be replaced with new “public comment guidelines”.

Associate professor of employment law Dr Giuseppe Carabetta commented in the media, “The decision is helpful in highlighting that employers are in general able to issue directions to employees about publicly expressing their views.

“The judgment refers to the established right of employers to issue ‘lawful and reasonable’ directions … Doing so enables employers to point to a specific employee breach if they wish to take disciplinary action.

“If they can’t, then they leave themselves open, as did the ABC, to accusations of discrimination under provisions such as section 772.”