Union official found to be an accessory to adverse action against workers

Individuals are at risk of breaching workplace laws even if their conduct is found only to be silent encouragement of unlawful adverse action, according to the outcome of a recent Federal Circuit Court case.

In the decision of Australian Building and Construction Commissioner v Moses & Ors, the Court found that a failure by an union delegate to correct the coercive and misleading statements of an union organiser was enough to justify a finding of accessorial liability for the union delegate. This was despite the fact that there was no active or verbal encouragement or endorsement of the union organiser's statements, but rather because of a combination of the union delegate's knowledge of the falsehood of the union organiser's statements and their failure to correct the statements.