The Fair Work Commission has suspended for three months the federal entry permit of Jason Lawrence O’Mara, assistant secretary of the ACT branch of the CFMMEU.
The suspension, made last Wednesday (2 June), means Mr O’Mara is not authorised to exercise entry rights for three months in accordance with the Fair Work Act 2009.
Mr O’Mara is required to return the suspended permit to the Fair Work Commission within seven days. At the end of the suspension period, the permit will be returned to Mr O’Mara upon application by the CFMMEU or Mr O’Mara.
The ABCC intervened in the Fair Work Commission’s proceedings arguing Mr O’Mara’s entry permit be revoked or alternatively suspended.
The Fair Work Commission’s decision follows the Federal Circuit Court’s decision in the Village Building Case delivered in September 2020.
The Court made findings that Mr O’Mara was one of six CFMMEU officials, who failed to produce federal entry permits when entering project sites, failed to comply with occupational health and safety requirements, hindered workers and acted improperly.
The Court penalised Mr O’Mara $12,000 for refusing to produce his federal entry permit at the Nexus project site in Franklin and failing to comply with an occupational health and safety requirement at a Harrison project site.
In commenting on Mr O’Mara’s behaviour, Judge Neville of the Federal Circuit Court said:
“As stated many times … bluster and ill-informed comments have no place anywhere. … To profess knowledge, and to act bluntly and forcibly upon it, when it is plainly wrong, is (and in this instance was) wilful and dangerous ignorance. This is especially so when one is in a position of authority, such as Mr O’Mara was. Ill-informed and misconceived “might” is never “right.”
In deciding to suspend Mr O’Mara’s federal right of entry permit, Fair Work Deputy President Gostencnik said:
“The contravening conduct was not trivial or inadvertent and was engaged in by a senior and experienced official who “should have set an example by their conduct on building sites – to be civil, properly informed and knowledgeable, and reasonably skilled in negotiation with on-site managers”.
Despite having since undertaken training on his responsibilities as a union official, Deputy President Gostencnik said:
“With only material showing that Mr O’Mara has undertaken training and no evidence of what has been learned, or without some indication of regret or remorse for the conduct resulting in triggering events, what confidence can be garnered that the kind of conduct which led to the triggering events would not be repeated?”
The Fair Work Commission also banned issuing any further entry permit to Mr O’Mara for a period of three months commencing 2 June 2021.
If Mr O’Mara attempts to exercise right of entry on any building site during the period of the suspension, you are advised to immediately contact the ABCC.
ABCC alleges CFMMEU officials defied safety requests on NSW school project
The ABCC has commenced Federal Circuit Court proceedings against the CFMMEU and two of its officials alleging they contravened right of entry provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009 at the Armidale Secondary School construction project in New South Wales.
The ABCC alleges:
- On the morning of 8 April 2020 CFMMEU officials Dean Rielly and Paul Fitzpatrick entered the site by displacing security fencing, rather than entering through the site’s designated access point.
- Site representatives approached Rielly and Fitzpatrick and made several requests of them to attend the site office, sign in and complete a safety briefing, which they did not do.
- The requests included conversations to the effect of “You must come to the office and sign in” and “You have not received a safety briefing”, to which Rielly responded “Shut up, you’re an idiot”.
- Both CFMMEU officials continued to disregard requests from site representatives not to enter exclusion zones, after being told “It is not safe to enter, this is an exclusion zone, you need to do a toolbox talk and pre-start briefing before entering an exclusion zone”.
- Several requests to maintain social distancing were also ignored, with Rielly pushing past site representatives using his shoulder, speaking like a football commentator and saying, “He puts a step in and goes around him”.
- Rielly blocked an access path for around 30 minutes, preventing 10 workers from using the access way.
The ABCC is alleging the officials and the CFMMEU contravened section 500 of the Fair Work Act 2009.
The maximum penalty for each contravention of the Fair Work Act 2009 is $63,000 for a body corporate and $12,600 for an individual.
The ABCC is also seeking personal payment orders against Reilly and Fitzpatrick. Such an order requires the pecuniary penalty imposed by the Court to be paid personally by the officials and not paid or reimbursed directly or indirectly by the CFMMEU.
