In response to recent reader queries re former Examiner Cadet Wes Young, we can make the following general comments:

In late 2005, the parties to Wes’ unfair dismissal matter attended a conciliation conference before the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. The concilliation conference is the first stage of the unfair dismissal process before the Commission. This stage is obligatory, and it is incumbent on the parties and on the Commission, in the context of the competing contentions of the parties, to try to settle the matter without recourse to a formal hearing.

During the conciliation process, the parties outline their cases and may provide an indication of their intended strategy and of their perception of the strength of their case in order to encourage the opposing party to agree to settlement on their terms. In this way, both the applicant and respondent, with the guidance of the Commission, try to get a sense of the liklihood of success should the matter proceed to formal hearing, of the orders the Commission might make if the applicant is successful, and of the risks of proceeding to formal hearing and losing. (Such risks usually centre on the opportunity of one party to obtain costs from the other).

The Wes Young matter was settled at the conciliation conference. There are two reasons that Wes has been unable to publicly comment further on the proceedings and their outcome: First, the Conciliation conference proceedings are private and are off the record — so there is no transcript, the parties are prohibited from publicly disclosing the details of the proceedings, and no one other than the parties to the matter and their representatives are allowed to observe the proceedings.

Second, as part of the terms of settlement, the parties agree to sign a “Deed of Release” — and this deed usually contains a non-disclosure provision prohibiting either party from disclosing the terms of the settlement or commenting further on the details of the claim.

…and the reason that unfair dismissals usually get settled rather than proceeding to formal hearing?

Considerable cost to both parties

Formal legal proceedings are adversarial in nature, and to put it bluntly neither party is generally interested in treating their opponent kindly…

A formal hearing also involves considerable cost to both parties. Formal proceedings can extend over months and once lawyers get involved, the legal costs can be massive.

The average award to a successful unfair dismissal applicant by the Industrial Commission at a formal hearing is around $7000. Reinstatement is possible in some circumstances, but unlikely where one or both of the parties argue that the employment relationship has broken down irretrievably (… given the public interest and attention this matter generated, the reader can probably figure the likelihood of the Ex reinstating Wes …).

Given that The Examiner had engaged Minter Ellison — (the thirteenth largest law firm in the world!) — the legal costs could well have extended into the tens or possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The only thing the Alliance can add at this stage is that it appears that the company has not yet provided the deed of release to Wes. We have contacted the company’s lawyers querying the status of the deed, but have received no response. In light of this we are now seeking advice as to whether we can make further public comment about the substance of the claim.

For the readers’ information, Wes was accepted into the Journallism course at the University of Tasmania this year. It has to be said that throughout The Examiner episode, Wes showed remarkable courage and tenacity — good traits for a journalist. We don’t think he’ll have too much trouble making a name and a successful career for himself as a journalist!

We should make one final comment — that is to thank the very many journalists and supporters in Tasmania and interstate that offered support and encouragement to Wes. As the industrial relations protections enjoyed by Australian workers are systematically dismantled by the Howard government, this sort of support and activism is arguably going to have a far greater influence in the pursuit of justice than trying to obtain justice through the courts alone.

Andrew Muthy is Tasmania branch secretary of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance.