Atkins v North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency Ltd [2024] FCA 686

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Atkins v North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency Ltd [2024] FCA 686 File number: NTD 3 of 2023

Judgment of: CHARLESWORTH J

Date of judgment: 27 June 2024

Catchwords: CORPORATIONS – employee alleging her employer (a company) purported to dismiss her from her employment – employee alleging the purported dismissal was not legally effective – whether a resolution of the Board of a company for the termination of the company's Chief Executive Officer was made in compliance with the company's Constitution – consequences of non-compliance – whether s 1322(2) of the Corporation Act 2001 (Cth) operated to cure a procedural irregularity – whether substantial injustice would result if the procedural irregularity were so cured INDUSTRIAL LAW – alleged contraventions of s 340 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) – employee alleging her employer took five adverse actions because she exercised or threatened to exercise workplace rights – employer having the onus to prove that the adverse actions were not taken because the employee had exercised or proposed to exercise workplace rights – where members of a Board of directors gave evidence – whether the evidence was sufficient to prove that persons other than the witnesses materially participated or brought about the decisions – where some witness testimony about the reasons for the taking adverse actions could not be accepted in light of objective facts – relevance of temporal coincidence between employee's exercise of workplace rights and employer's adverse actions – whether the employer's evidence established that some directors of a Board had not acted on a report the existence of which may have resulted from the acts or omissions of a person actuated by a prohibited reason – where presumption in s 361 of the Fair Work Act applied by reason of deficiencies in the case presented by the employer