ENTERPRISE AGREEMENTS – dispute about matter arising under agreement – s.739 Fair Work Act 2009 – alleged dispute involving Forgacs Engineering P/L Enterprise Agreement 2013 – enquiry as to whether prior casual service of a permanent employee should count towards the calculation of ‘continuous service’ for notice and redundancy pay – AMWU argued that relevant clauses of no effect by virtue of inconsistency with the NES – AMWU argued that the definition of ‘continuous service’ in the FW Act encompasses both casual and permanent employment – distinction drawn between notice and redundancy and accruing rights such as annual or long service leave – service of casuals who are later made permanent compared to apprentices employed at the conclusion of an apprenticeship – contended this interpretation is consistent with the entire scheme and objects of the FW Act – Australian Industry Group (AiG) argued that casuals employed by Forgacs receive a 25% casual loading – in addition to specific exclusions in the agreement, AiG argued that this casual loading is used to compensate for a loss of benefits including notice and redundancy pay – Metals Casual Case considered – Commission did not accept the argument that casuals transferring to permanent employment can be reconciled with apprentices being employed as tradespersons – legal principle against ‘double dipping’ in regards to casual employees later made permanent considered a logical and universally accepted industrial practice – Commission accepted that while ‘continuous service’ is not definitively defined within the FW Act, the wording of the agreement is without ambiguity and the FW Act identifies no impediment to the operation of the agreement – found that prior casual service of permanent employees does not count towards the calculation of period of service for notice and redundancy pay – application dismissed. ‘Automotive, Food, Metals, Engineering, Printing and Kindred Industries Union’ known as the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) v Forgacs Engineering P/L t/a Forgacs
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