Fair Work Ombudsman v Sapphire Freighters Pty Ltd

In the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, Judge Mercuri considered an application for default judgment brought by the Fair Work Ombudsman against Sapphire Freighters Pty Ltd. The dispute concerned Sapphire Freighters' failure to comply with a Compliance Notice issued under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) and its subsequent failure to defend the proceedings with due diligence.

The court was required to determine whether to grant default judgment against Sapphire Freighters. This involved assessing whether the respondent had failed to comply with the Federal Circuit Court Rules 2001 (Cth) by not filing a response or defence within the prescribed timeframes, by failing to comply with a specific court order to file a defence, and by not defending the proceedings with due diligence.

Judge Mercuri reasoned that Sapphire Freighters had indeed failed to comply with its procedural obligations. The court found that the respondent had not filed a response or defence within the 28 days required by rules 4.03 and 4.05(3) of the Federal Circuit Court Rules 2001, nor had it complied with the court's order of 31 July 2020 to file a defence by 18 August 2020. Furthermore, the respondent had not defended the proceedings with due diligence. Consequently, the court granted default judgment in favour of the applicant.

Upon the admissions taken to have been made by reason of the respondent's default, the court declared that Sapphire Freighters contravened section 716(5) of the Fair Work Act 2009 by failing to comply with the Compliance Notice. The court ordered Sapphire Freighters to take the steps required by the Compliance Notice within 28 days, including calculating and paying outstanding entitlements to Mr Anthony Lawlor and his superannuation fund, and providing a schedule and proof of rectification to the applicant. The respondent was also ordered to pay interest on the outstanding amounts and the matter was adjourned for further hearing regarding penalties.