Human rights lawyers have hailed a landmark whistleblower ruling awarding a more than $7 million settlement, the first made under private-sector protections.
The Federal Court on Tuesday ruled against mining resources company TerraCom, awarding the Commonwealth $7.5 million in damages and $1 million in legal costs for the “hurt, humiliation, distress and embarrassment, and damage to reputation” caused to a whistleblower.
Justin Williams was fired in August 2019, the same day he informed the company’s CEO and chief financial officer of possible misconduct regarding the “fake analysis of coal samples”.
TerraCom denied the allegations, made Williams redundant and made an announcement that his allegations were false, according to the Federal Court ruling.
Williams informed the financial watchdog, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, in February 2020 about the alleged misconduct.
An open letter from the company denying the allegations was published in the Australian Financial Review and The Australian newspapers in March that same year.
An independent investigation authorised by the company found no evidence of wrongdoing, that none of TerraCom’s customers raised quality control issues with coal exports and that Williams made the allegations after he was dismissed as part of a company-wide redundancy program, the letter said.
The Federal Court ruling said TerraCom admitted the publishing of the letter and other announcements contravened private-sector...
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