Presenter’s big legal win over the ABC

ABC fill-in presenter Antoinette Lattouf was sacked by the national broadcaster when she was taken off air in the wake of social media posts relating to the Israel-Palestine conflict, the Fair Work Commission has ruled.

Ms Lattouf filed the proceedings after she was sent home for the final two days of a five-day stint on ABC Radio’s Sydney Mornings program in December last year.

In a judgment published on Monday, the Fair Work Commission found the ABC had terminated her employment, dismissing ABC’s claims to the contrary, and opening the door for her to pursue the national broadcaster in the Federal Court.

Ms Lattouf was called up to fill in for host Sarah Macdonald for five shifts starting on Monday December 18 but was told not to come in for her final shifts on Thursday and Friday that week.

She had claimed she was unlawfully terminated after sharing a post on social media by Human Rights Watch reading: “HRW reporting starvation as a tool of war.

“The Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a weapon of war in Gaza”.

In his judgment, the Commission’s deputy president Gerard Boyce said ABC’s chief content officer Chris Oliver-Taylor “made the ultimate decision to take (Ms Lattouf) ‘off air’.”

Mr Oliver-Taylor concluded that the social post breached the ABC’s social media policy, according to the written decision of the Fair Work Commission.

In submissions to the Fair Work Commission, Ms Lattouf’s lawyer, Mark Gibian SC argued that “the ABC expressly terminated Ms Lattouf’s employment” by calling her to a meeting on December 20 and alleging she had breached the ABC’s social media policy.

During that meeting, Ms Lattouf claims she was told that she would not complete her on-air shifts on the Thursday and Friday of that week.

“That is an express termination plainly falling within the concept of termination on the employer’s initiative,” Mr Gibian argued.

In a letter sent to ABC management and published in the Fair Work Commission judgment, Ms Lattouf claimed she was told “that Jewish lobbyists were unhappy that I was on air”.

The ABC argued that it had not terminated Ms Lattouf’s contract and it was entitled to act as it did according to her casual employment contract, and that she was paid for the full five days.

The Commission found that there was nothing said to Ms Lattouf during the December 20 meeting about her being paid for the full five days.

“In this case, I find that the employment relationship between the Applicant and the ABC, was terminated at the ABC’s initiative,” Mr Boyce said in his judgment.

In a statement, Ms Lattouf’s lawyer Josh Bornstein from Maurice Blackburn, welcomed the Fair Work Commission’s decision to dismiss the ABC’s attempt to strike out her unfair dismissal claim.

“We will add the claim of unlawful termination to the claim currently before the Federal Court that alleges that the ABC also violated its enterprise agreement by sacking Antoinette Lattouf without due process and without a proper basis,” Mr Bornstein said.

“If the court is satisfied that the ABC acted illegally, it has broad powers to make orders including reinstatement and compensation together with the ability to impose penalties.”