Lawyers Weekly Australia
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In late January and just under three weeks before her leave began, Fourtree Lawyers brought a pregnant legal secretary and paralegal into a meeting and proposed she resign from her role and take a redundancy because it was downsizing from two offices to one.
Although the paralegal was allowed to have a support person, they could not be a “past or present employee” of Fourtree because the meeting was “confidential” and they could not play an active part.
In contrast, Fourtree was represented by managing director Keith Vierboom, who had founded the firm nine years ago, and Fourtree’s experienced employment lawyer Mitchell Hickey.
Kevin Vierboom – Principal Solicitor
Mitchell Hickey – Senior Associate
“This created an obvious power imbalance … further exacerbated by Vierboom’s direction that the person attending the meeting … could not be a past or present employee … and would not be permitted to advocate or speak on [the paralegal’s behalf],” Fair Work Commission’s deputy president Judith Wright said.
Wright added it was “misleading and potentially unlawful” to restrain the role of the support person and deprived the paralegal of her right to be represented during discussions with her employer.
After the paralegal filed her application, Fourtree objected on the grounds it believed she had resigned and had not been terminated.
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