The judge presiding over former Seven Network presenter Simon Reeve's lawsuit against the broadcaster has warned both sides not to "play games" in court, as the network returns fire with its own claim against the ex-TV host.
Reeve filed Federal Court proceedings against Seven in September, alleging the network breached the Fair Work Act including by failing to pay him annual leave and redundancy pay.
Former Seven Network presenter Simon Reeve.
The veteran broadcaster, who appeared in the network's coverage of Olympics, news and game shows including Million Dollar Minute and It's Academic, alleges in court documents that Sunrise executive producer Michael Pell terminated his engagement with Seven in a June 25 phone call.
His lawyers say Seven failed to give Reeve "reasonable notice", which in this case was 12 months "given his age, seniority and length of service". In lieu of that notice, they say he is entitled to 12 months' salary.
In a written defence, Seven says reasonable notice was "no more than five weeks".
The court has previously heard the lawsuit is worth at least $500,000 but Seven's barrister Yaseen Shariff, SC, has branded Reeve's claims "ambitious".
At the heart of the case is a legal fight over whether Reeve was an employee, or an independent contractor whose services were provided via his company. If he was an employee, he was entitled to annual leave, redundancy pay and notice of termination.
Reeve's lawyers seek a declaration he was a Seven employee from 2002 to the present, and that Seven contravened the Fair Work Act by "falsely representing" he was a contractor.
Seven says in its defence that "at no time after 1 February 2010 was Reeve employed by Seven" and it was an "express term" of agreements between it and his company that he was not an employee.
In a cross-claim, Seven says that if the court orders it to pay Reeve entitlements and other amounts claimed by him, his company should indemnify the network. Reeve's lawyers say in response he was "in reality" an employee, "notwithstanding any terms of the contracts that contradicted that reality".
At a preliminary hearing on Wednesday, Mr Shariff said Reeve's lawyers had not produced documents they requested recording any work Reeve performed outside of Seven. He said without access to those documents it was unlikely any pre-trial mediation would be "fruitful".
Justice Geoffrey Flick warned Reeve's barrister, Jaye Alderson: "Don't start playing games in my court."
Justice Flick said if the only objection to producing the documents was that it was akin to discovery - a formal pre-trial process through which parties can obtain evidence from the other side - the documents should be handed over.
"If there's not cooperation you can expect a rough ride next week," he said.
"We'll of course produce them by Friday," Ms Alderson said.
Justice Flick told Mr Shariff "I don’t want games being played on your side, either".
He encouraged both sides to cooperate "if you wish to survive".
The parties return to court on Monday.
Michaela Whitbourn is a legal affairs reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.
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2020-11-11 02:20:00Z
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