Recovering wasted costs and combatting the “trial by media” litigation strategy

• An all too common feature of individual employee claims is to include salacious allegations designed to shame or embarrass management representatives.
• In many cases, such allegations are unrelated to the issues to be determined in the case and are made without proper foundation.  Rather, their purpose is to extract a “shame or silence” premium in settlement negotiations.
• Recent cases debunk popular “cost-free” perceptions about the Fair Work jurisdiction and reinforce that smear campaigns expose employees and their representatives to liability for legal costs of those required to defend them.
• Careful positioning by employers can turn the tables on such campaigns by exposing baseless or irrelevant allegations for what they are – an attempt at leverage -  with costly consequences for those responsible.

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