How are penalties determined and calculated?

In Mason v Harrington Corporation Pty Ltd [2007] FMCA 7, Federal Magistrate Mowbray listed factors that had been taken into consideration by the Federal Court in several different underpayment matters in determining a penalty. These included:

• the nature and extent of the conduct
• the nature and extent of any loss or damage
• whether there had been similar previous conduct by the respondent
• whether the breaches were properly distinct or arose out of one course of conduct
• the deliberateness of the breaches
• the extent to which senior management was involved in the breach
• the corporation’s contrition, corrective action and cooperation with enforcement authorities
• general deterrence.