Thirty-one unfair dismissal and labour dispute applications are scheduled for hearing by the Fair Work Commission today. The full list is: Geelong Window Solutions (Balcam), Australia JW Trading Pty Ltd & H & Y Investment & Development Pty Ltd (Guan), Buehler Aged Care Pty Ltd (Mercer), Churchill Management Pty Ltd (Athanates), Amtek Corporation Pty Ltd (Young), Holcim (Australia) Pty Ltd (Harland), Retirees WA (inc.) (Pereira), Lockin Pty Ltd (Ware), Premier Motor Service Pty Ltd (Tischler), The GEO Group Australia Pty Ltd (Patel, Reihana, Reilly), Spectrum Community Focus Limited (Valenzuela), Premier Youthworks (Rosberg), Hopgoods Bus Service P/L (Morale), Nunga Mi:Minar Incorporated (Joy), BizFine Pty Ltd (Pugh), Rio Tinto Coal (NSW) Pty Ltd (Murray (nee McCauley)), Linfox Australia Pty Ltd (Grey), Valoriza Water Australia Pty Ltd (Cooper), Evertwin Pty Ltd (Buchanan), Portugal Madeira Sydney Social & Cultural Sports Club Ltd (Croad), Winder Controls Australia Pty Ltd (Ghate), Cerebos (Australia) Limited (Ratcliffe), St Marys Area Community Development Project. inc. (SMACD) (Lees, Moore), Custom Bus (Sarmento), TB Hotels Pty Ltd (Hogan), Pathways Australia Pty Ltd (Hill), Knoxfield Medical Centre Pty Ltd (Logan), Diamond Logistics Pty Ltd (Luapo).
August 24, 2017
Another lightweight case load day for the Fair Work Commission. The eleven cases are: Dyno Nobel Asia Pacific Proprietary Limited (Weber), Department of Social Services (Larzabal), Australian Federal Police (O’Neill), VITS (Gorencic), Serco Australia Pty Ltd (Ramos), Geelong Window Solutions (Balcam), Clarke Kann Lawyers (Layton), Freshco Foods (Patel), Serco Australia Pty Ltd (Ramos), Anglican Community Services (Asher), Bidgerdii Community Health Service (VanDenBrink).
August 23, 2017
A union will be looking into safety records at a milk factory after a health and safety adviser claimed she was unfairly blamed for the company’s “poor” track record. The employee unsuccessfully brought personal grievance and constructive dismissal claims against South Canterbury-based Oceania Dairy Ltd, at a hearing in Timaru. Oceania Dairy produces milk powder for export to China for infant formula. Its factory is at Glenavy. New Zealand Dairy Workers Union national secretary Chris Flatt said the union would be following up with Oceania about the company’s health and safety records, but declined to comment further on the case. Moira Briscoe was employed as a health and safety adviser in March 2014. She experienced a breakdown in her relationship with her employer two years later when a new head of human resources was appointed. Briscoe alleged she was bullied and treated with a lack of respect between February 2016, when the new manager was appointed, and her resignation in July 2016. She complained of being unnecessarily moved and micro-managed, and said her performance appraisal was unfairly moderated, and Oceania failed to provide her with adequate information of key performance indicators. During that time period she also claimed general manager Roger Usmar said he wanted to “get rid” of her during a senior management meeting, something Usmar denied. Usmar acknowledged addressing Oceania’s “poor” health and safety record at length at a staff meeting, but told the authority he was not trying “to apportion blame” to Briscoe. He attended a meeting with Briscoe and the human resources manager in May to try to address some of Briscoe’s concerns. Briscoe resigned on July 15, and alleged the company had failed to investigate her bullying claims. Authority member James Crichton said in his judgement, released on August 3, he was not convinced Briscoe was treated disrespectfully. Her treatment around performance appraisals was the same as the rest of the staff, and the performance indicators she complained about were never implemented. When it came to allegations of micro-managing, the new human resources manager simply seemed to have a different style to her predecessor, Crichton said. “[She] was seeking a more detailed and focused relationship in respect to health and safety, particularly in the context of Oceania’s concern about health and safety failings within the business.” Usmar did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday about the company’s health and safety situation. Crichton said the relationship between Briscoe and her new manager lasted only a few weeks, making it difficult to say the conduct was “repeated” and workplace bullying. “None of that seems to me inappropriate from a management perspective and again I say that even if it could be alleged that Ms Briscoe had suffered a disadvantage because she was now being managed whereas previously she was given a relatively free hand.” Briscoe said the company failed to look into her bullying allegations after she sent an email to the human resources manager outlining her concerns. However Crichton noted Briscoe never raised the matter again, and appeared to have had a “productive discussion” with the manager after the email was sent. There was no evidence of hurt or distress other than Briscoe going on sick leave immediately before her resignation. “There is simply no evidence before the authority of [the health and safety manager] doing anything in her relationship with Ms Briscoe other than trying to get the best possible outcomes for the wider Oceania staff.”
August 23, 2017
A mere twelve applications alleging unfair dismissal are listed for hearing in the Fair Work Commission today. The full list is: Hopgoods Bus Service P/L (Morale), The Trustee for the Chunys Trust (Humphreys), Meeke Engineering (Zhang), StarTrack Express Pty Ltd (Benson), Winya Furniture Pty Ltd (Santos), Whitehaven Coal Mining Limited (Eather), Bidgerdii Community Health Service (VanDenBrink), Bynoe Community Advancement Cooperative Society LTD (Douglas), University of Tasmania (O’Dowd), Bank Australia Limited (Raven), Hibiscus Chinese Takeaway and Cafe Food (Chan), McColls Transport Pty Ltd (Robson).
August 22, 2017
A lightweight day faces the Fair Work Commissioners allocated unfair dismissal and labour dispute applications. The full list includes: SSX Services Pty Ltd (Jewell), Hardman Real Estate Geelong Pty Ltd (Mason), Buehler Aged Care Pty Ltd (Mercer), The Trustee for South West Transit Group Unit Trust (Nieuwpoort), R.O.B Australia Pty Ltd (Chapman-Stone), Canterbury – Hurlstone Park RSL Club Ltd (Lee), Menzies International (Australia) Pty Ltd (Napier), PFD Food Services Pty Ltd (Buttar), Streamline Plumbing (Simounds), Personal Tutors Pty Ltd (Poyton), Regis Aged Care (Jones), Dynaton Sales & Hire Pty Ltd (O’Brien), Carlton and United Breweries Pty Ltd (Donovan), City of Sydney RSL & Community Club Limited (Balgowan).
August 21, 2017
The Fair Work Commission has thirty four unfair dismissal/labour dispute cases to hear today. The full list is: Australian Personnel Global Pty Ltd (Hussein, Mohammadi), Teys Australia (Rezaie), Hiddlestone Electrics Pty Ltd (Colreavy), Target Australia Pty Ltd (Drosd), Cobham Aviation Services Australia (Urquhart), City Of Kalgoorlie Boulder (Sivapalan), Hume Masterpanel Pty Ltd (Jefferd), Tasmanian Water and Sewerage Corporation Pty Ltd (Bodel), Relationship Australia Tasmania (Bromfield), Murray Street Early Learning Centre (Goonatilake), Roy Morgan Research Ltd (Ellis), Frankston City Council (Grinter), Bass Coast Health (Notley), Linehaul 21 Pty Ltd (Chester, Welsh), Aegis Care Group (Kassa), City of Canning (Birkbeck), Superior Wood Pty Ltd (Lee), Bazel Holdings Pty Limited (Wiseman), Star Track Express Pty Ltd (Benson), McGrath Sales Pty Limited (Leahy), GSP Print Pty Ltd (Thornberry), Visy (Smith), MA Administration Services (Vasquez-Schlitter), Rail Corporation NSW (Duraisamy), Craig Mansor (Whalan), Kimberly-Clark Australia Pty Ltd (Collins), Mills-Thoms Mechanical Repairs Pty Ltd (Williams), CB Debt Consultancy Pty Limited (Peace).
August 18, 2017
The Fair Work Commission is scheduled to hear 22 unfair dismissal/labour dispute applications today. The full list is: Bowens (Darmanin), La Sagra Pty Ltd (Fato), Blackwood Ridge Nursery (Graymore), Letcon Precast Systems Pty Ltd (Reddick), Voice Logic Pty Ltd (Reiri), Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd (Edwards), Knoxfield Medical Centre Pty Ltd (Logan), Linfox Armaguard Pty Ltd (Anderson), Lumlan and Associates Services (Levalds), Infosys Technologies Pty Limited (Sriram), Bake Life Pty Ltd (Wales), Tursa Employment and Training Limited (Rodgers), Mt Arthur Coal Pty Limited (Folpp), Brotherhood of St Laurence (Noisette), Clare Castle Hotel (Will), Bell & Brunt Jewellers (Egel), Streamline Plumbing (Simounds), The Dieri Aboriginal Corporation (Dodd), Churchill Management Pty Ltd (Athanates), Impression Solutions (Australia) Pty Ltd (Briffa), Queensland Symphony Orchestra Pty Ltd (Wenn), Norther Plant Hire (Vernon).
August 18, 2017
TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT – extension of time – s.394 Fair Work Act 2009 – applicant resigned from his employment with respondent on 2 December 2015 – on 2 November 2016 applicant made an application for unfair dismissal – respondent objected to application on the grounds that it was filed outside the statutory time limit – objection upheld and application was dismissed – applicant appealed – Commission considered if exceptional circumstances existed and reason for delay – application should have been made by 23 December 2015 for it to be within time – application not made for a further 11 months and 7 days – main reasons for delay relied upon by the applicant were the actions of his lawyers, psychological illness and matters associated with a workers’ compensation claim – Commission examined the advice of applicant’s lawyer – advice about potential general protections non-dismissal applications and potential unfair dismissal applications – found no basis to conclude lawyer deliberately withheld information from applicant about any application that could be made – Commission examined medical opinions provided about applicant – found nothing in the evidence of applicant’s treating doctors that suggests he was not capable of pursuing an application for unfair dismissal during the period of December 2015 to November 2016 – found the applicant’s workers’ compensation claim did not explain his failure to make an application for unfair dismissal – Commission did not accept that legal advice provided an acceptable reason for the delay – applicant did not instruct any lawyer to make an application – no error made by any lawyer – not satisfied that the applicant was misdirected by any lawyer – not satisfied that the applicant was not able to research, understand or complete an application before 2 November 2016 as a result of his medical condition – not satisfied that the time the applicant spent on preparing a workers’ compensation claim was a substantive reason for the delay in making unfair dismissal application – not satisfied the applicant’s personal matters including the birth of his first child and his mother’s deteriorating health explained the delay – found matters raised by applicant do not collectively explain the totality of the period of delay – not satisfied that exceptional circumstances existed – extension of time refused – application dismissed. Costelloe v Origin Energy Ltd t/a Origin Energy
