Creative wins $268,000 in bitter dismissal case against Y&R Brands
Creative Paul Fishlock has won a long running damages action against former employers The Campaign Palace.
Paul Fishlock was awarded $268,259
In the action he claimed that he had been dismissed and replaced as National Chief Creative Officer in January 2011 without notice, and as such, the usual restrictive covenants did not apply.
Fishlock sought redundancy payment under the Fair Work Act 2009 and the Long Service Leave Act 1955, which were contested. He had been employed since 2003.
The judgement favoured Fishlock’s position.
“I found Mr Fishlock despite his obvious, and if I may say understandable, anger to be forthright and candid in giving his evidence. I have no misgivings about accepting his evidence in its entirety,” it said.
In contrast, the court had “serious misgivings” about the evidence of the key defence witness, Mark Mackay, Executive Chairman of the Campaign Group.
It found that a key email on 28 January 2011 conveyed “a significant diminution in his [Fishlock’] status and standing amongst the staff of the defendant in both its Sydney and Melbourne offices.”
“I am satisfied that the defendant regarded Mr Fishlock as the ultimate creative head of 'both Palace offices', and appointed him as such. Mr Fishlock was entitled to do what he did given the emails to which he was privy," the judgement explained.
“In my mind this was a clear act on the part of the defendant to directly signal to Mr Fishlock it no longer intended to have him regarded as having the ultimate creative responsibility for the offices of the defendant, in Sydney and Melbourne.
“That in my view amounts to a repudiation by the defendant of its previously agreed position. Faced with that reality Mr Fishlock in my view was perfectly entitled to do what he did and accept the repudiation and terminate the contract."
Fishlock was awarded $268,259 in damages.
Y&R Melbourne, successor firm of the now defunct Campaign Group said: "While we are disappointed that the court has awarded some damages to Paul Fishlock, we believe it is significant that the decision awards him substantially less than he sought.
"We are pleased that the court has found that the covenants he was subject to were reasonable and that certain of his claims were rejected. We are currently evaluating our next steps, including whether to appeal."