The Federal Court of Australia ("FCA") has set aside a
decision by the Federal Circuit Court of Australia
("FCCA") regarding the dismissal of a university
academic, raising questions over the line between intellectual
freedom and serious misconduct.
The FCA's ruling in James Cook University v
Ridd [2020] FCAFC 123 sets up the potential of a High
Court ruling on terminating employees on the basis of their public
comments. This draws parallels with the recent public discourse on
freedom of speech in the context of the termination of Israel
Folau's contract.
Background
The academic was a professor who was employed by James Cook
University ("JCU") for over twenty-seven years. In 2018
the academic was terminated by JCU for serious misconduct, which
was preceded by a series of confidentiality directions and two
censures from JCU related to the academic's alleged breaches of
JCU's Code of Conduct. The academic claimed in public comments
and interviews during
