Union boss faces legal action for ‘reprisals against whistleblowers’
MELBOURNE: Former union boss and Labor factional player Diana Asmar is facing legal action for allegedly taking revenge on staff who blew the whistle on her, including by allegedly threatening to release compromising photographs of them to the media and seeking to terminate those who betrayed her.
The Fair Work Commission’s union watchdog arm launched legal action in the Federal Court on Wednesday against the former Health Workers Union Victoria secretary and her ally, former senior vice president Lee Atkinson, seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties and compensation.
The action is the first time the commission has used anti-reprisal laws in the Fair Work Act that bar unions for taking acton against whistleblowers.
Asmar – a powerbroker in the Victorian Labor Right – was forced out of her position as HWU secretary last year after 13 years in the role and her branch was placed into administration following claims it was dysfunctional.
At the time, the FWC had taken legal action against Asmar over allegedly defrauding the union of $120,000 by reimbursements with no evidence of business expenses. It also alleged she approved the union paying $2.7 million to a printing business for services never provided and for which she received the benefit through “cashback transactions”. The matter is still before the court.
The FWC alleges in its latest case that at the time of the investigations Asmar and Atkinson knew who in the union had been disclosing information and took action against them.
Their alleged action included “generating false complaints, excluding them from meetings, interfering with their duties and responsibilities and other inappropriate conduct”, according to a commission statement.
“The ability of employees and officials to safely raise concerns about the financial management of their registered organisations, without fear of reprisals, is fundamental to ensuring organisations meet high standards of accountability to their members.”
While the FWC’s statement of claim has not been released, the alleged reprisal actions are understood to overlap with alleged actions outlined by staff in a 2024 judgment forcing Asmar to step aside.
Affidavits from staff in that case claimed Asmar told a delegates conference in 2024 that “the biggest enemy were traitors within the union, who haven’t seen what is coming yet, but who will get what is coming, and who will regret betraying her”.
Asmar did not deny the statement at the time. Atkinson denied he heard the second part of the statement.
In response to a young industrial officer who brought charges against Asmar under union rules, Asmar allegedly told an associate “the branch committee of management have given me the authority to do what the f— I want”.
“You don’t know what I’m up to, mate. I am going to kill her, do you understand?” Asmar allegedly told him. “She’s going to regret the day she was born.”
At a subsequent meeting she allegedly discussed providing compromising photographs of the officer to the media.
In relation to another senior official, Asmar allegedly said she had not even started on him and “you wait and see what’s going to happen”. “These people end up resigning and saying f— it, they got cancer and shit like that.”
In his 2024 judgment, Justice Craig Dowling held there was no evidence from Asmar identifying the “serious allegations of potential gross misconduct” she made against one employee who raised concerns.
”I am also satisfied, for the purposes of a serious question, that Asmar played a role in the stand-down of [the employee] as reprisal conduct,” Dowling said.
The commission is seeking orders against Asmar and Atkinson to compensate four individuals and pay penalties of up to $33,000 per breach. It also wants to prevent them from ever seeking a position within the HSU.
The FWC’s latest case has yet to be listed. Asmar and Atkinson were unable to be contacted.
