A totally fabricated diary of working hours, and still no costs!

A recent decision of the Federal Circuit and Family Court serves as a reminder of just how difficult it can be to be awarded costs in the Fair Work jurisdiction. Despite dismissing an employee's claim for underpayment and adverse action and finding that the employee had fabricated his work diary, Judge Vasta declined to make an order for costs in Jess v Cooloola Milk Pty Ltd [2021] FedCFamC2G 165.

This case involved an employee who claimed, amongst various other claims, that they were chronically underpaid.  The claim was based on a work diary that the employee said he used to keep a daily record of all the hours that he worked because he thought it "was fishy" that the employer did not keep a track of the hours being worked.