Former banker ordered to pay $5.8m

A former Commonwealth Bank worker who lost her sexual harassment and bullying case against the company has been ordered by the Federal Court to pay more than $5.8 million in costs.

Vivienne Dye’s case against Commonwealth Bank and Commonwealth Securities was dismissed in Sydney last month after Justice Robert Buchanan found she had embellished and fabricated her case “as though it was a novel”.

Ms Dye, who worked for CommSec between March 2005 and November 2007, had sued the bank for sexual harassment, sex discrimination, disability discrimination, victimisation, breach of contract, injurious falsehood and defamation among others.

But her case was dismissed after Justice Buchanan found the allegations she made were “in substance false” and should not have been made or pursued.

Handing down a decision on costs on Friday, Justice Buchanan ordered Ms Dye to pay costs totalling $5.85 million.

“In the present case, the lack of merit in each of the proceedings is so marked, and the claim for protection by the respondents against unwarranted financial burden is so well-founded, that there is a sufficient justification for the award of indemnity costs with respect to the whole of each of the proceedings,” Justice Buchanan said.

He noted Ms Dye claimed she had no significant assets.

“If the claim is true, the respondents may not recover more than a fraction of costs awarded in their favour, if at all,” Justice Buchanan said.

Views: 0

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

Powered by WordPress | Designed by: Premium WordPress Themes | Thanks to Themes Gallery, Bromoney and Wordpress Themes