RIGHT OF ENTRY – application for permit – appeal – s.604 Fair Work Act 2009 – Full Bench – at first instance, Commission imposed condition on right of entry permit issued to appellant’s official, Mr Wyer – appellant raised three grounds of appeal – permission to appeal granted in respect of grounds 2 and 3 – Full Bench upheld appeal in respect of ground 3 – new permit issued to Mr Wyer without condition.
March 8, 2018
Sixty-three unfair dismissal/labour dispute applications await a determination from Fair Work Commissioners. The full list is: Ngunya Jarjum Aboriginal Child & Family Inc (Cain), Hanson Construction Materials Limited (Pericich), Al-Hussain Pty Ltd (Ahmed), Sydney Water Corporation (Fung), I-Beaute Pty Ltd (Ho), Profine GmbH (Schlick), The Entrance Red Bus Services Pty Ltd (Cahill), Luxo Living Administration Pty Ltd (Keegan), Wilpinjong Coal Pty Ltd (Lewis), Citizen Advocacy Western Sydney Inc (Fraser), Artkal Trading Pty Ltd (Georgakakis), HT Bawden (NSW) Pty Ltd (Lindsay), Catholic Schools Office Wagga Wagga (Roche), Michael Laguzza (Lewis), JDH Architects Pty Ltd (Wallace), Key Assets Children Services Provider (Rees-Mogg), Patrick Projects Pty Ltd (King), Monash University (Proud), Complete Welding International Unit Trust (Miribyan), Famlea Pty Ltd (Katragadda), GoingUp Lifts (NSW) Pty Ltd (Inns), Collective Nutrition Pty Ltd (O’Brien), Bunnings Group Limited (Dawson), Wet Fix Pty Ltd (Bennion), Salisbury Private Nursing Home Pty Ltd (Lindsell), Amri & Southern Cross Care (SA & NT) Incorporated (Lioe), Healthcare Australia Pty Ltd (Short), ISS Facility Services (Karikulathil), Foodlink Australia Pty Ltd (Abbasi), Interail Australia Pty Ltd (Dalziel), R & C Consultancy (McMahon), Tenterfield Care Centre Limited (Wait), Interail Australia Pty Ltd (Zimmer), Mt Arthur Coal Pty Limited (Waters), Australian Energy Market Operator (Ozcelik), Perez Varela Lawyers Pty Ltd & Perez (Picos), Lincom Group (Waenga), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (El Kouzi), Qantas Airways Pty Ltd (Rodl), The High Gate Group (Heydon), Altara Resources (Parry), Department of Health WA (Combi), SafeRad SE Asia Pty Ltd (Smith), State Revenue Office (Tucker), Monadelphous Engineering Associates Pty Ltd (Reeve), Barwon Health (Clarke), WS Commercial Real Estate Pty Ltd (Taylor), R & C Consultancy (McMahon), Broadspectrum (Australia) Pty Ltd (Mitrevska), Ironbay Pty Ltd (Seitz), Trandev Melbourne Pty Ltd (Rivera), Linfox Australia Pty Ltd (Paull), Transport Canberra and City Services (Barr), Commissioner for Public Employment (Chatham), The University of Queensland (St Lucia) (Cagielka), Wicked Fabrications Pty Ltd (Price), Amtek Corporation Pty Ltd (Young), Huilong Agro Chemicals Australia Pty Ltd (Zhu), Linh Chi Day Spa (Burns), Lakman Fernando Investments Pty Ltd (Gray), Spotless Facility Services Pty Ltd (Kelly), Woolworths Limited (Vistoli), Disability Rights Advocacy Service Incorporated (Carroll).
March 5, 2018
The queue lengthens once again and twenty-six applicants line up to have their unfair dismissal/work grievances evaluated by the Fair Work Commission. The list is: Cronulla Bowling & Recreation Club, Wilson Security Pty Ltd (Antoniadis), Flight Attendants Association of Australia National Division (Staniforth), Odyssey House (Lynch), Reece Australia Pty Ltd (Kalloudis), INU Health Nuts Pty Ltd (Grant), JBT Logistics Pty Ltd (McCoy), Barbs Transport (Dingeldei), Student Biryani Pty Ltd (Akhter), Millennium (MIL) Cleaning (Demir), Northern SEQ Distributor – retailer Authority (McFarlane), The Camberwell Grammar School (Dai), Premier Hotel (Illsley), Pacific HVAC Engineering Pty Ltd (Xu), Wicker IP Royalties Pty Ltd (Kuruppuarchchi), Australian National University (Lewis), Ella Bache Aspley Unit Trust (Boreland), Oakmoore Pty Ltd (Faumui), AAB Group of Companies Pty Ltd (Hellmuth), Serco Australia Pty Ltd (Waite), Village Roadshow Theme Parks Pty Ltd (Stewart), SA Group Enterprises Incorporated (Coomba, Tarley), CSL Limited (Papaioannou), Plumbing & Gas Pty Ltd (McDonough), Mt Arthur Coal Pty Limited (Waters).
March 2, 2018
ENTERPRISE AGREEMENTS – dispute about matter arising under agreement – ss.604, 739 Fair Work Act 2009 – appeal – Full Bench – found at first instance that clause 87 in the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) Enterprise Agreement 2017 does not prohibit the respondent from requiring employees to work under a ‘hot desking’ or ‘shared accommodation’ arrangement – grounds of appeal included that Commission erred in interpretation and proper construction of clause 87 and erred in several findings of fact – Full Bench found erroneous statement of principle in reference to Berri – error in itself not sufficient to quash decision at first instance – whether conclusion as to proper construction of clause 87 was correct – appellant contended proper construction of clause 87 warranted application of the maxim expressio unius est exclusio alterius (expressio unius) – Full Bench found that language used in clause and other evidence does not support application of expressio unius – accepted some of the findings of surrounding circumstances were overstated – reconsidered evidence and reached same conclusion – public interest enlivened to clarify the objective approach which must be taken to the interpretation of enterprise agreements – permission to appeal granted – Full Bench satisfied that conclusion at first instance was correct – appeal dismissed. Appeal by Australian Municipal, Administrative, Clerical and Services Union against decision of Catanzariti VP of 20 December 2017 [[2017] FWC 6890] Re: Commonwealth of Australia (acting through and represented by the Australian Taxation Office)
March 2, 2018
CASE PROCEDURES – referring question of law – s.608 Fair Work Act 2009 – application by applicants to refer 25 questions of law to Federal Court of Australia – referred questions relate to operation of s.596 of FW Act and representation of a party by a legal representative; to operation of powers to award costs; and to certain industrial instruments – Commission not satisfied that questions relating to representation and costs were relevant – also declined to exercise discretion relating to questions about industrial instruments – Commission noted that some questions readily answerable by reference to FW Act and existing jurisprudence – not persuaded that discretion should be exercised to grant application – most expeditious and appropriate to refuse application and for Commission to hear and determine matters – referral application refused. King and Ors v Patrick Projects P/L
March 2, 2018
CASE PROCEDURES – representation – ss.394, 596 Fair Work Act 2009 – application for unfair dismissal – applicant objected to legal representation for CSIRO during the submission stage in lead-up to formal hearing under Rule 12(2) of Fair Work Commission Rules [Fitzgerald] – sought directions CSIRO not be permitted representation – representation granted to CSIRO for mention hearing to deal with applicant’s objection – Commission considered need to balance efficiency and fairness against need for formal representation [Warrell] – Commission found Rule 12(1) exempted making written applications and submissions, document lodgment and correspondence with the Commission from the prohibition in s.596(1) – either party will need to seek leave to be represented from the Commission Member presiding over the jurisdiction and arbitration hearing for this matter – no directions made. Stringfellow v Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation t/a CSIRO
March 2, 2018
ENTERPRISE AGREEMENTS – termination of agreement – Sch. 3, Item 16 Fair Work (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Act 2009 – application to terminate Yoghurt Shop P/L Collective Agreement Number One (2006) made by employee – Agreement is a collective agreement-based transitional instrument approved under WR Act – proposed change from the Agreement to either the General Retail Industry Award 2010 or Fast Food Industry Award 2010 would likely lead to changes to staffing and other arrangements favourable to employee – Agreement terminated with one month delay in date of effect. Yoghurt Shop P/L Collective Agreement Number One (2006)
March 2, 2018
MODERN AWARDS – 4 yearly review – ss.134, 138, 156 Fair Work Act 2009 – Full Bench – Higher Education Industry – Academic Staff – Award 2010 and Higher Education Industry – General Staff – Award 2010 – issues determined were: coverage of research institutes; coverage; fixed-term employment categories; fixed-term expiry severance pay; industry specific redundancy provisions; information and communication technology allowances; professional and discipline currency allowance; classification of academic staff; academic hours of work; rates of pay (linking to classification descriptors); working hours and overtime; changes to sessional academics rates schedule; and casual conversion.
