Australian Building and Construction Commissioner v Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union
Citation: [2019] FCA 468
At a glance
- Penalty
- $78,000
- Employees affected
- 1
What happened
The CFMEU (renamed CFMMEU) officers Maurice Campanaro and Joe Caratozzolo separately met with John Patsalas, an independent contractor working on construction sites. On 25 November 2016 at the Trillium Apartments project in Melbourne, Campanaro told Patsalas he had to pay fees to the union to work on site. After Patsalas paid, he was permitted to work. On 15 February 2017 at the EQ Tower Apartments project, Caratozzolo similarly told Patsalas he needed to pay outstanding union fees before being permitted to work.
What was decided
The court declared that both officers and the union contravened s 348 of the Fair Work Act by threatening to and preventing Patsalas from working with intent to coerce him to pay union fees. The officers were ordered to pay penalties of $4,000 each. The union was ordered to pay $35,000 for each of the two contraventions (totalling $70,000).
What it means for employers
Union officials cannot condition site access or work on payment of union fees. Contractors hiring labour must understand that union coercion practices breach the Fair Work Act and may expose contractors to litigation.
What it means for employees
You cannot be prevented from working or forced to pay union fees as a condition of working. Such conduct breaches your freedom of association. Workers and contractors who experience such pressure should report it to the Fair Work authorities.
Want this applied to your situation?
Reading the decision is free. FairWork Mate goes further — it reads the full case library and applies precedents like this one to your specific facts, citing the cases as it reasons. General information, not a guaranteed outcome or legal advice.
Every statement above is drawn from the published decision. Read the original here:
https://www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2019/2019fca0468Want more cases like this?
FairWork Mate tracks Fair Work Ombudsman, Fair Work Commission and Federal Court decisions across Australia. The AI advisor answers plain-English questions grounded on the full corpus — awards cited, industry, penalty amounts and affected employee counts — with a citation to the underlying decision on every answer.
Individual case summaries on this site are free. Full-corpus advisor access is a paid product — Business Solo from $99/mo, 50% off your first 3 months for the first 100 signups.
Get notified on new Fair Work cases
Free email alerts when we publish new underpayment decisions, penalty orders, and workplace law updates.
Free forever. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
This summary was drafted from the published decision and reviewed before publishing. It is general information, not legal advice. For your specific situation, speak to the Fair Work Ombudsman (13 13 94) or a qualified lawyer. About these summaries & corrections →