Tuesday, July 05, 2022

Micromanagement - The Future of Corporate Criminal Liability

An Australian woman was awarded $2.8 million by the Federal Court after it deemed she had been “micromanaged” and “bullied” by her boss.

A racing club in New South Wales was ordered to make the major payout after a long-time manager was subjected to an “overbearing micromanagement style”.


The court also found the CEO had bullied the manager by singling her out, micromanaging her tasks, distracting her from work with relentless emails and denying her benefits that were offered to other employees.

The woman, who had been working for the club since 1991, started having the issues when the new CEO came on board in 2016.

It was at this point the new CEO felt the manager was being paid too much and the harassment began.

The manager was denied annual leave, long-service leave and commission payments.

After numerous complaints, the manager left the business in 2019 and the court awarded the manager the payout in December 2021.

Woman wins $2.8 million for being ‘micromanaged’ at work

(Hawkesbury Race Club ordered to pay bullied manager over $2.8million in compensation and legal fees. hawkesburypost.com.au.)


The 30 May 2022 decision in Leggett v Hawkesbury Race Club Limited (No 4) [2022] FCA 622, handed down by a single Judge in the Federal Court of Australia, has highlighted numerous issues which give pause for thought - specifically regarding how employers should manage their risk, and how injured workers should bring claims for damages for personal injury.

Where an employer is exposed to damages for breach of provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009 or other Commonwealth legislation (such as anti-discrimination law, as well as in negligence), the Federal Court is not restricted in the way it assesses damages by the limitations in the NSW Workers Compensation Act 1987.

With this in mind, employers within the NSW workers compensation scheme may be entitled to indemnity from Icare and SIRA if the breach of the Fair Work Act 2009 arises from an "injury" to the worker.

The Court has made it clear though, that a worker cannot double dip - and must account for any state compensation received.

Australia: How workers can avoid statutory limits on damages: Employers have real risks of uncapped damages, but SIRA/ICARE policies may still respond (Leggett v Hawkesbury Race Club Limited (No 4) [2022] FCA 622)



Kyley Daykin  - Case alleging workplace bullying against Auditor-General settled


Credit Suisse struggles with backlog of new wealthy client accounts in Asia FT

Tax havens are in effect the aircraft carriers from which assaults on major democratic states and their policies can be launched. No wonder Russia loves them.

I wrote this more than ten years ago (with minor changes to tenses to suit the new context): Feral capitalism is the unfettered, wild form
Read the full article…


In April 2022, 4.4 million Americans quit their jobs, according to the latest data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

April marked the 11th consecutive month that 4 million US employees left their jobs, indicating that the Great Resignation may be turning into a Forever Resignation, Insider's Aki Ito reported.

Research published by MIT Sloan School of Management earlier this year found that toxic work cultures were the driving force behind the Great Resignation. The research said that toxic work culture was the biggest cause of attrition, even more so than bad pay or job insecurity.

Toxic work cultures are driving The Great Resignation. Here's how to tell if a company culture is toxic before accepting a job.


Reporter tracks down scammers in dramatic raid

"Schadenfreude" is a German word that describes pleasure derived from someone else's misfortune. It might be a brutal emotion but we guarantee you'll enjoy watching the misery of the men you're about to meet.

60 Minutes' Most Notorious Scammer Stories


Scammers stole over $2 billion from Australians last year — more than double 2020's total: ACCC


Nelson, J.S. (Josephine Sandler), The Future of Corporate Criminal Liability: Watching the ESG Space (January 15, 2022). J.S. Nelson, The Future of Corporate Criminal Liability: Watching the ESG Space, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4057736 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4057736 

“The future of corporate criminal liability in the U.S. and around the world may be for failure to adequately act on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. In Europe and elsewhere, courts have found a fundamental right or the equivalent to protection from climate change. That right has been exercised in court cases against governments first, and it is moving into cases against private corporations. This manuscript focuses within ESG issues on potential U.S. corporate criminal liability for inaction to prevent climate change. 



There has not been discussion of this topic elsewhere in the literature, and businesses need to look for these developments in the law. U.S. courts are not likely to follow the international pattern of finding a fundamental right to protection against climate change, but they are more likely to find potential corporate criminal liability for misrepresentations that corporations make to investors in the gap between what corporations say and what they do on climate change issues. The first movements in this evolution are already happening.”



How Do You Know You’re Not Dreaming?  Ted-Ed


How Neurons Really Work is Being Elucidated The Economist


Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Can be Killed by Pom-Pom Molecules NewScientist


Lost in space: Astronauts struggle to regain bone density France24. I thought the cosmonauts used whole body vibration plates before and after for bone density and muscle strength…


Queen’s Secret Influence on Laws Revealed in Scottish Government Memo The Guardian