Journalist Antoinette Lattouf wins wrongful dismissal case against ABC

Journalist and presenter Antoinette Lattouf was sacked by the ABC after taking on a casual presenting role last year, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) has found in its unfair dismissal case.

on ABC Radio Sydney in December last year, three days into a five-day broadcast on the public broadcaster.

This came after she shared a post from Human Rights Watch claiming that Israel was using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.

Lattouf’s lawyer, Josh Bornstein, said the ruling “broadly rejects” the ABC’s jurisdictional challenge, adding that his illegal dismissal case “can now proceed to the Federal Court.”

Lattouf filed his application for illegal dismissal with the Federal Court in February.

In Lattouf’s presentation to the FWC, she argued that she was illegally terminated for reasons of political opinion and race.

In a ruling on Monday, the FWC rejected the ABC’s argument that it did not fire Lattouf because it paid her for the five positions.

The FWC said it found that the working relationship between the Lebanese-Australian journalist and the ABC had ended at the initiative of the ABC.

“The ABC did not respond to the candidate’s clarifying email at all, let alone confirm or deny that the candidate remained employed by the ABC,” FWC vice president Gerard Boyce said. in his reasoning.

Three women and a man walk together on a street.

Journalist Antoinette Lattouf (2nd from left) after leaving a Fair Work Commission hearing in Sydney in January. Source: PAA / Toby Zerna

He added that although Lattouf was only informed in a meeting that she was being “taken off the air”, ABC internally used terms such as “not necessary for the rest of the week” and ” withdraw.”

Lattouf had claimed that her manager told her in a meeting in December that she was fired because of HRW’s social media post and that it was a violation of social media policy .

She asked if she was able to publish if another “journalist was killed or if a reputable NGO like Amnesty International had information” and “just cited an agency” and claimed she was told “yes, it is GOOD “.

Following Monday’s ruling, Lattouf said the ABC’s challenge was a waste of taxpayers’ money and that she was “disappointed” to have been fired for publishing “a fact that the ABC told her -even reported also”.

In his reasoning, Boyce wrote that the conversation had the following effect: that the ABC had “received loads of complaints from pro-Israel lobbyists who are not happy that ABC Radio Sydney” had put Lattouf on the air.

Lattouf was then asked to “keep a low profile on social media,” to which she agreed, but advised her to post on social media from “reliable sources” about “facts.”

The manager’s advice was that it would be best not to make any social media posts for the rest of the week.

But Boyce said there was confusion within the ABC over whether he had been “advised” or “instructed” not to post messages.

Boyce said that while the payments made to Lattouf after she was taken off the air may be attributable to ABC’s casual employment contract, “about which I have significant doubts, at best they are extending the engagement of December from a contractual point of view, but not from the point of view of the employment relationship”.

Who is Antoinette Lattouf?

Antoinette Lattouf is a journalist and co-founder of Media Diversity Australia.

She has worked across Australian television, online and radio platforms while advocating for the social issues she cares about.

In 2019, his book How to Lose Friends and Influence White People was published. It is described as “a guide through the balance between activist, advocate and ally”.