Compensation of $85,000, a public apology and reinstatement as a fill-in radio presenter are the three items on Antoinette Lattouf’s wish list from the ABC, should the national broadcaster want to avoid a costly trial in the Federal Court.
Lattouf’s legal team, led by Maurice Blackburn’s head of employment law, Josh Bornstein, wrote to the ABC last week offering a compromise settlement after mediation between the parties failed last month.
The message from ABC chief content officer Chris Oliver-Taylor confirming Lattouf would be stood down.Credit: Marija Ercegovac
“The offer is modest and is made on an open basis. It is a compromise on what our client could be awarded at trial if she is successful, particularly having regard to any penalties that may be imposed,” said the letter, seen by this masthead.
In the letter to the ABC’s lawyers at Seyfarth Shaw, Bornstein and his team said if the offer was rejected, they estimated the broadcaster would spend an additional sum in the hundreds of thousands in legal costs, on top of the significant sum it had spent to date.
Lattouf’s team is holding the line on their accusation the ABC breached its disciplinary policies in its enterprise agreement by sacking her for reposting a Human Rights Watch post in December while presenting the Mornings show on ABC Radio Sydney for five days.
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The ABC rejects this and says she was not sanctioned as a result of the post. Lattouf’s team says the ABC’s various positions “are contradictory and lacking in credibility”.
“It is in the interests of both parties, and your client in particular, that a swift and pragmatic solution be reached to resolve the proceedings. A protracted legal dispute is not in the interests of either the ABC or Ms Lattouf.”
The saga began when the ABC sacked Lattouf three days into a five-day contract as a stand-in presenter on ABC Radio Sydney. She is asking to be re-employed and allocated shifts with equivalent airtime and reach as her previous role.