A file note from a Herbert Smith Freehills lawyer is protected by legal professional privilege, a judge has ruled, shooting down a claim by the CFMMEU that the note may have been part of an unlawful scheme to block its merger with two other unions.
The timing of an email from a Herbert Smith Freehills solicitor alerting the Fair Work Commission to union contempt proceedings, which the firm argued early this year was grounds for halting the amalgamation of the CFMEU with two other unions, points to ‘a high level of collusion’ to block the merger, a judge said Tuesday.
An employment dispute between financial advisory StatePlus and former program and project manager Mark Lawson has been ordered into mediation, with a Federal Court Judge saying the case could be “very ugly” if it went to trial.
A judge has shot down a union bid to stall a lawsuit over picketing at the new ‘robo’ terminal in Port Melbourne pending the outcome of an appeal challenging the merger of the CFMEU with two other unions.