Judge blasts Howard's IR laws

A judge has attacked Australia's tough industrial laws while dismissing a case of building workers who were paid while they stopped work to honour a dead colleague.

Federal Court judge Tony North said yesterday a section of the Workplace Relations Act stopping bosses paying workers in a safety audit was harsh.

"If penalties are imposed on employers who pay workers for stoppages which reasonable people would see as understandable and justified . . . the law itself will be seen to be out of step with reasonable community expectations," Justice North said.

He dismissed charges against builder B&P Caelli Constructions and two officials from the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union.

The case was prosecuted by the building industry watchdog, the Australian Building and Construction Commission.

It involved workers being paid for a stoppage in August 2003 after a worker died in Shepparton.

The ABCC pursued the builder for providing strike pay, and union officials for allegedly demanding the pay in breach of the Act.

CFMEU state secretary Martin Kingham said the ruling was a slap in the face for the ABCC and Federal Government.