Printing and Kindred Industries Union & Ors v Vista Paper Products Pty Ltd

This case involved proceedings for enforcement of a reinstatement award against Vista Paper Products Pty Ltd (Vista) and its former director, John McNamee. The applicants, including the Printing and Kindred Industries Union and 28 individual employees, sought penalties, including daily penalties, for Vista's and McNamee's failure to comply with a reinstatement award. The applicants also sought orders for payment of underpaid moneys. The court had to decide whether the employer was financially incapable of making back payments required by the award, the relevant considerations in determining the amounts of the appropriate penalties, and the relevance of other income of employees during the material period in computing the appropriate amounts.

The court held that Vista was not financially incapable of making back payments as claimed, and that the reason for non-compliance was Mr McNamee's determination not to take back the employees. The court imposed a penalty of $1,000 for the breach from December 1991 to November 1993, and a daily penalty of $100 for each respondent for the period after 29 November 1993 until 12 October 1994, totalling $31,700. The court also ordered Vista to pay each of the individual applicants an amount calculated by reference to their base weekly wage rate at 4 March 1991. The penalties were to be paid within two months or such further time as a judge on application may allow. The Registrar was ordered to pay half of all penalties paid to the Printing and Kindred Industries Union and the remainder to the Consolidated Revenue Fund.