The Federal Court has awarded compensation for hurt and
humiliation in an adverse action ruling related to an employee
being negatively assessed by his employer.
The ruling made it clear that action taken by an employer in
response to a complaint by an employee made prior to 1 July 2009,
is unlawful.
The Court also stated that a negative assessment that served to
make the applicant's employment less secure constituted adverse
action for the purposes of section 342(1)(c) of the Fair Work
Act 2009 (Cth) ('the Act').
Background
In April 2009, the applicant was working in Perth as an Licensed
Aircraft Mechanical Engineer. He became concerned that he was not
being paid for overtime and made a complaint to his employer,
International Aviation Safety Association
('IASA'). Following the complaint, IASA
reviewed the applicant's performance. Initially, the applicant
was refused representation by the employer, who later relented and
allowed the Australian Licensed
