REGISTERED ORGANISATIONS – registration – s.18(a) Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009 – application for registration by association of employers – no objections received – Commission referred to s.18A requirements for when an employer association can be registered in federal system – Commission also referred to s.19 criteria for when it must register a federally registrable association of employers – Commission satisfied grounds for registration as an organisation had been met – association to be registered as an organisation with effect from 4 April 2017. Clay Brick & Paver Association of New South Wales
April 7, 2017
MODERN AWARDS – 4 yearly review – reconstitution of Full Bench – ss.156, 622 Fair Work Act 2009 – hearings in relation to the Family & Domestic Violence Leave Clause were held before a Full Bench comprising Watson VP, Gooley DP and Spencer C – Watson VP published his decision in the matter on 27 February 2017 and his resignation from the Commission took effect on 28 February 2017 – Gooley DP and Spencer C have sought advice as to whether they may proceed to finalise and publish a decision in the matter, in particular having regard to s.622 of the FW Act – a hearing in relation to this issue will be listed for 1:00 pm on Tuesday, 4 April 2017 – parties will have an opportunity to make submissions at this hearing. 4 yearly review of modern awards-Family & Domestic Violence Leave Clause
April 6, 2017
Three entities, including the Salvation Army, face multiple unfair dismissal/labour employment dispute challenges in the Fair Work Commission today. The list of 27 applicants and respondents is: Olex Australia Pty Limited (Singh), The Nuance Group, Dufry Company (Wong), Pro Life Food (Gleeson), Barrett Exhibition Group Pty Ltd (Murphy), Serco Australia Pty Ltd (Scrimgeour), SecureMetro Cleaning Services WA Pty Ltd (Lai), Billabong Gold (Russell), Ausply Big River (Honeysett), MBMpl Pty Ltd (Qu), Vinidex Pty Limited (Wehbe), Serco Australia Pty Ltd (Scrimgeour), Beta Trading Co Pty Ltd (Daines), Majestic Mushrooms Pty Ltd (Wongkhosawan, Rose), One Harvest (Chand), NSG Australia (Selvaraju), TSA (Vic) Property Trust as Trustee the Salvation Army (Vic) Social Work (Bokori-Mayman, Ewels, Talarico), Cre8ive Builders (Cowey), Spotless Facilities Services Pty Ltd (Hambridge), Kentz Pty Ltd (Ketchup, Weekley), Dawn House Incorporated (Roberts), Tasmania Ports Corporation Pty Ltd (Finnis), James Richardson Proprietary Limited (Chow), Pelican Impex Pty Ltd (Lucchini).
April 5, 2017
Normal levels of industrial contestation have been restored at the Fair Work Commission. Thirty applicants are on today’s list for hearing: Majestic Mushrooms Pty Ltd (Wongkhosawan, Rose), One Harvest (Chand), Coles Supermarket (Aiken), Oracle Corporation Australia Pty Limited (Lawrence), Plate Marketing Pty Ltd (Addison), Woolworths Limited (Fitzgerald), Hyne Tiber Pty Ltd (Capile), Broadspectrum (Australia) Pty Ltd (Burgess), The Scots College (Witheridge), Migration Institute of Australia (Cerone), Borg Manufacturing Pty Ltd (Peck), Murray Engineering Pty Ltd (Mulvaney), Forever New Clothing Pty Ltd (Bayliss), Harry the Hirer Pty Ltd (Cilia), Origin Energy Resources Limited (Costelloe), Delaware North Retail Services Pty Ltd (Cheng), Re-Engage Youth Services Incorporated (Sellen), Randstad Pty Ltd (Belling), Coca-Cola Amatil (Aust) Pty Ltd (Camenzuli), Department of Natural Resources and Mines (Wanninayake), Hearty Tummies Pty Ltd (Svetlova), Fitz Electrix & Halmicalt Pty Ltd (Martin), Oakley Beef Exports Pty Ltd (Lebsanft), University of Canberra (Dewan), Northern Territory Government (Hutchinson), Bawinanga Aboriginal Corp (Kelly), Kentz Pty Ltd (Harbrow), Bulk Frozen Foods (Nugent).
April 4, 2017
This is a lightweight day for unfair dismissal/employment dispute applications with only 12 complainants due to make an appearance. The full Fair Work Commission list as follows: Surfside Buslines Pty Ltd (Spencer), Aurizon Operations Limited (Tucker), Embracing Children Private Limited (Tilekar), K.N Dinh & H.N Nguyen (Singh), Summit Development Corporation Pty Ltd (Church), Murdoch University (Hayes), Institute for Urban Indigenous Health Ltd (Bell), Harbour Roof Tiling Pty Ltd (Raza), McCarrolls of Moss Vale Pty Ltd (Bennett), Bunnings Group Limited (Foyster), Aspect Cabinetmakers Pty Ltd (Fletcher), University of Canberra (Dewan).
April 3, 2017
The Fair Work Commission will today hear 30 applications for relief from unfair dismissal or employment disputes. The full list is: Weir Minerals Australia (Compton), Anytime Eltham pty ltd (Whitehead), Enviro Infrastructure Pty Ltd (Fallow), Nans Tarps Pty Ltd (Hilton), Triple R Corporation Pty Ltd (Cannington), Comfort Delgro Cabcharge Pty Ltd (Murray), Pacific National Bulk Rail (Rhodes), Australian Federal Police (Hackett), Delron Cleaning Pty Ltd (Digby), Strathalbyn West Perth Pty Ltd (Dixon), Lapa Armadale Pty Ltd (Joy), Sandfire Resources NL (Scarborough), Otis Elevator Company Pty Ltd (Jurisic), Co-Operative Bulk Handling Limited (McCarrol), The Trustee for Yarman Trust/The Potato Box (Cook), A. Halid & J. Memedovski (Crawford), Viatek Technology Pty Ltd (Nourfadi), Maxitrans Australia Pty Ltd (Ryan), Steamline Fitouts Pty Ltd & Sanderson (Condon), Amazon Web Services Australia Pty Ltd (Jian), Esso Australia Pty Ltd (Stephens), Mary Mackillop Aged Care SA (Lehmann), J&T Trade Pty Ltd (Ahmadi), Martindale ACF Pty Ltd (Issell), Villacare Pty Ltd (Bayliss), Demjet Pty Ltd (in Liquidation) (Rennie), Gladstone Brick Sales and Landscaping Supplies Pty Ltd (Webster), Excel Property Specialists Pty Ltd (Ownsworth), Powder Coating Services Pty Ltd (Aitken), University of Canberra (Dewan).
April 3, 2017
MODERN AWARDS – 4 yearly review – ss.134, 156 Fair Work Act 2009 – Full Bench – decision to be read in conjunction with Full Bench decision issued on 20 January 2017 (January Decision) [[2017] FWCFB 344] – review of Pharmacy Industry Award 2010 (Pharmacy Award) arising out of plain language re-drafting process – January Decision determined number of contentious award-specific issues and expressed range of provisional views on other issues – also amended plain language drafting guidelines – interested parties invited to make submissions on revised draft guidelines, provisional views on award-specific issues in Pharmacy Award and revised draft – submissions received from Business SA, Pharmacy Guild of Australia, and joint submissions from Shop, Distributive and Allied Employee’s Association (SDA), Health Services Union (HSU) and Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers, Australia (APESMA) (Joint Union submissions) – Full Bench confirmed provisionally expressed view in relation to Clause 2 to remove definitions of ‘on-hire employee’ and ‘on-hire employer’ and included existing definition of ‘on-hire’ – Full Bench noted in January Decision that it was difficult to determine from Clause 4-Coverage-on-hire whether person to whom labour was supplied needed to be an employer covered by Pharmacy Industry Award – submissions were conflicting – conference to be convened by Hatcher VP to facilitate further discussions between parties in respect of this issue – Full Bench in January Decision identified ambiguity in respect of definition of ‘community pharmacy’ in Clause 4-Coverage-‘definition of community pharmacy industry’ – proposed that words ‘by retail’ in Clause 4.1(a) of exposure draft be deleted – provisionally expressed view confirmed and proposed change to clause 4.1 adopted – Full Bench in January Decision noted there seemed to be tension between Clause 10.5 and Clause 10.8 (now 10.9) – consensus amongst interested parties that there was no tension – Full Bench did not propose to take any further action – parties were invited in January Decision to comment on whether agreement referred to in Clause 10.10 (now 10.12) should be in writing – Full Bench varied clause 10.12 to require that agreement to work additional hours must be in writing but was not persuaded it was necessary to insert cross-reference to clause 10.5 – agreed with Pharmacy Guild submission and did not propose to adopt amendment proposed by Joint Union submissions to re-insert ‘on a regular pattern of work’ from clause 12.2 of current award – Joint Union submissions also raised issue regarding part-time employees working additional hours – Full Bench not convinced that plain language redraft of Clause 10.12 changed legal effect of clause and did not propose to make any further amendments – expressed provisional view in January Decision that Clause 11.2 be deleted and casual conversion clause be inserted – general agreement amongst parties that casual conversion clause be inserted but no agreement as to form of that clause – telephone conference to be held after decision in Part-time/Casuals case is issued – Full Bench in January Decision indicated provisional view that Clause 13.4 be amended – parties supported proposed amendment and provisional view confirmed – Full Bench in January Decision expressed provisional view that Clause 14.1(e) of exposure draft be amended to delete words ‘every four weeks’ and insert ‘in that four week cycle’ – Pharmacy Guild did not support proposed amendment and submitted that the words changed legal effect of the award – Full Bench disagreed with Pharmacy Guild’s position to import definitions used in respect of shiftworkers and did not propose to vary clause 14.1 of revised exposure draft – consensus position put by interested parties in relation to junior wages in Clause 16.2 being formatted as a table – table format to be adopted – Joint Union submission proposed introductory clause at Clause 18.1 to make clause 18 easier to understand – no submissions received so Full Bench proposed to adopt introductory clause – Clause 18.7 updated to make it clear it applied to circumstances where employee starts work after 10.00 pm – interested parties reached consent position in relation to redrafting of Clause 20 – conference to be held before Hatcher VP to provide interested parties with opportunity to comment on proposed amendments – two amendments in Clause 21-Penalty Rates – first, words ‘higher rates of pay (penalty rates)’ replaced with ‘penalty rates’ in Clause 21.1 – Clauses 21.3(a) and (b) revised to include reference to Table 5-Penalty rates – parties to convene at conference before Hatcher VP to facilitate further discussions between parties in respect of changes to Schedule AClassification definitions – no further issues raised by parties – Full Bench to issue further revised exposure draft after conferences convened by Hatcher VP have taken place. 4 yearly review of modern awards – Plain language re-drafting
April 3, 2017
CASE PROCEDURES – referral to Full Bench – ss.582, 615, 615A(2) Fair Work Act 2009 – application by National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) to refer substantive application before single Member to a Full Bench – substantive application by Murdoch University to terminate Murdoch University Enterprise Agreement 2014 – s.615 of FW Act confers broad discretion on President – s.615A requires satisfaction of public interest for referral to a Full Bench – ss.577, 578 and 581 also relevant – NTEU submitted substantive application a test case in higher education industry and warranted referral – submitted substantive application by public sector employer would raise novel issues to enliven public interest – contended that number of affected and potentially affected employees would enliven public interest – further submitted would be more efficient to be heard by a Full Bench in order to limit further litigation – Commission held that contest between parties concerned application of relevant statutory provisions and not proper interpretation of provisions themselves – held that affecting a significant number of employees does not in itself enliven public interest – proposition of potentially affecting over 18,000 employees not supported by evidence – held that more efficient to have matter determined by single Member so that any subsequent appeal would be based on factual disputes – not satisfied in public interest to direct a Full Bench under s.615A to hear and determine substantive application – not persuaded to exercise discretion under s.582 to transfer application to a Full Bench – determined that fairness, efficiency and expedition of matter better served by single Member determining substantive application – application not granted. Murdoch University v National Tertiary Education Union
