The Federal Court certified a class action by CAF members alleging racial discrimination and harassment and approved a $150 million settlement with systemic relief.
The trial judge considered the appellant's family circumstances and systemic factors, treated family separation as a mitigating factor, found the evidence of specific collateral consequences weak, and imposed a sentence at the low end of the established Cunningham range; no error in principle or demonstrable unfitness was shown, so leave is granted but the appeal is dismissed.
The Review Officer's dismissal was reasonable: on the balance of probabilities there was insufficient evidence that the union acted arbitrarily, discriminatorily or in bad faith; the union provided assistance, reasonably declined arbitration based on prior unsuccessful precedent, and the Review Officer's written reasons satisfied the Vavilov requirements of adequacy, coherence and rationality.
Source excerpt
Duty of fair representation
Judicial review - reasonableness (vavilov)
Union grievance and arbitration discretion
Accommodation for disability
Procedural prerequisites under trade union act s.55
The Federal Court dismissed a judicial review of a RAD refugee decision, finding no reviewable error in the refusal of new evidence, cumulative persecution analysis, state protection assessment, or Huruglica review approach.