ENTERPRISE AGREEMENTS – dispute about matter arising under agreement – permission to appeal – ss.604, 739 Fair Work Act 2009 – Commission issued two decisions in relation to this matter: [[2015] FWC 6512] (2015 Decision) and [[2017] FWC 2583] (2017 Decision) – 2015 Decision concerned proposal by appellant to introduce a ‘trade operator model’ in its Hot Mills business, which involved tradespersons performing wider range of duties – Commission decided in 2015 Decision that proposal was safe, efficient and fair and that it could be ‘introduced immediately, on the understanding that a review will be undertaken by the FWC in relation to the operation of the new classification and rate of pay in April 2016’ – review did not occur in April 2016 – in 2017 Decision, Commission found that dispute proceedings were not concluded by 2015 Decision and that there was jurisdiction to conduct a review – appellant appealed on basis that Commission erred in finding it had power to conduct the review in accordance with 2015 Decision – Majority Full Bench did not consider it to be necessary in public interest or appropriate to grant permission to appeal on four grounds: that it would be entirely premature to do so as no exercise of arbitral power has occurred; that it would be doubtful the appeal had any practical utility; that the contemplated review was a fundamental part of 2015 Decision and therefore necessitated further stage in dispute proceedings; and that as the critical question was a complex one with broad implications, parties have not been afforded proper opportunity to advance full submissions in relation to appeal – appeal dismissed – Minority Full Bench unable to identify legal foundation to allow Commission to conduct review contemplated by 2015 Decision and held that authority of Commission to conduct review must derive from Agreement – held that error of jurisdiction enlivened public interest, would grant permission to appeal. Appeal by BlueScope Steel (AIS) Port Kembla against decision of Riordan C of 9 June 2017 [[2017] FWC 2583] Re: The Australian Workers’ Union and Ors
February 20, 2018
CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT – wages – equal remuneration order – s.302 Fair Work Act 2009 – Full Bench – United Voice and the Australian Education Union (applicant unions) made an application for an equal remuneration order – children’s services and early childhood education industry – employees working in long day care centres or preschools – comparative exercise required as a jurisdictional prerequisite – preliminary question regarding comparator group – Full Bench held applicant unions ‘elected to place all their forensic eggs in one basket’ by seeking to demonstrate the required equality or comparability in work value between its selected male and female comparator groups by reference only to the 2005 Decision and the subsequent historical pay nexus without calling any evidence – found applicant unions ‘have necessarily fallen short in attempting to satisfy the jurisdictional prerequisite for the making of an equal remuneration order’ – application dismissed. Application by United Voice and the Australian Education Union – Equal remuneration order
February 20, 2018
TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT – misconduct – s.394 Fair Work Act 2009 – incident occurred out of hours – had capacity to impinge on employment relationships and employment rights – dismissal not harsh unjust or unreasonable – application dismissed. Colwell v Sydney International Container Terminals P/L
February 20, 2018
TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT – application to dismiss by employer – deed of settlement – ss.394, 587, 589 Fair Work Act 2009 – whether Commission should use its discretionary powers to relist or to dismiss application from 2013 – delay extreme – reasons unpersuasive – found binding and operative settlement reached – originating application dismissed. Centofani v Transfield Services t/a Light City Buses
February 15, 2018
Twenty-two unfair dismissal/labour dispute applications are listed for hearing in the Fair Work Commission today. The list includes: Broadspectrum (Australia) Pty Ltd [formerly Transfield Services (Australia) Pty Ltd] (Sheldon-collins), DG and EJ Gavin (Summers), Envision Employment Services (Natoli), Honey Birdette Pty Ltd (Collins), Coates Hire Operations Pty Ltd (Veivers), Chefgood (Brown), A’Vard Industries Pty Ltd (Dziurek), KDR Victoria Pty Ltd (Thomas), Qantas Airways Ltd (Staniforth), Essendon Hair Make Up (Cardamone), Artkal Trading Pty Ltd (Georgakakis), Boral Cement Ltd (Hawkins), Mid West Ports Authority (Day), Allied Metal Recyclers Pty Ltd (Adamson), Wesfarmers Limited (Dark), Australian Capital Territory (Brewer), The Commonwealth of Australia (Kildea), Hanson Construction Materials Pty Ltd (Pericich), ALIF Australia Pty Ltd (Kim), TouchPoint HCM Solutions Pty Ltd (Edwards), I-BEAUTE Pty Ltd (Ho), Super Retail Group (Zammit).
February 15, 2018
Twenty-nine unfair dismissal/labour dispute applicants are awaiting Fair Work Commission adjudication. The list is: Estia Investments Pty Ltd (Percy),Assetlink Services Pty Ltd (Carroll), GrainCorp (Steward), Zoopsia Pty Ltd (Olsen), Jenkins Madaffari Pty Ltd (Madaffari), St Bartholomew’s House Inc (Majumder), Majestic Stairs (WA) Pty Ltd (Adams), Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia (Western Operations) (Fischer, Forbes, Pepper, Pers, Testi), Albany Automotive Group Pty Ltd (Mason), Broadspectrum (Australia) Pty Ltd (Clarke), Camp Australia Pty Ltd (Yang), Kingston Council (Berry), Whytehall Shopfitters Pty Ltd (Banwell), MSS Security Pty Ltd (Findley), Metropolitan Taxi Club Inc (Ninon), Downer EDI Power (Thornton, Ebbeck), Bunnings Group Limited (Keen), Toukay Enterprises Pty Ltd AFT (Portolesi), Healthcare Australia (Davis), LD&D Milk Pty Ltd (Goodwin), Andersens Tweeds Heads (Bond), Reilly Pastoral Co Pty Ltd (Kittle), Serco Australia Pty Ltd (Waite), Gold Coast Hospitality Services Pty Ltd (Ozturk).
February 14, 2018
A list of 30 unfair dismissal/labour dispute applicants will pursue claims before the Fair Work Commission today. The list is: The Richmond Hotel (O’Reilly), ALS Industrial Pty Ltd (Baggs). City of Sydney RSL & Community Club Ltd (Balgowan), Far West HACC Services Inc (Perry), The Trustee for Davis Family Trust (Lawrence), Obelisk Systems Pty Ltd (Weitenberg), Estia Health (Burgess), Mercy Services (McKenzie), Customade Commercial Kitchens Pty Ltd (Roberts), Zip Hearts (Aust) Pty Ltd (Hasan), Coca-Cola Amatil Limited (Nguyen), Welch Allyn Australia Pty Ltd (Keen), Roger Lee P/L (Wei), City of Armadale (Woodenberg), The Plumbing and Gas Guys (Burns), City of Rockingham (Reguero-Puente), McHatton Training and Consultants (Smallwood), Camp Australia Pty Ltd (Yang), Royal Flying Doctor Service (Newman), Monash University (Moore), A.Alderton Plumbing Services Pty Ltd (Cernobrivec), Coles (Janzen Van Rensburg), Broadspectrum Australia Pty Ltd (Brooks, Rapana), Bunnings Group Limited (Dawson), Curtain Wonderland (Vion), Northern SEQ Distributor – Retailer Authority (McFarlane), Plumbing & Gas Pty Ltd (McDonough), Christou Property (Budisavljevie), Seaton Hotel (Foale).
February 14, 2018
ENTERPRISE AGREEMENTS – dispute about matter arising under agreement – s.739 Fair Work Act 2009 – dispute concerning whether employee’s entitled to Electrician’s Licence Allowance (ELA) in the Endeavour Energy Enterprise Agreement 2012 – agreement stated ELA allowance for employees who held specified Electrical License – all employees licensed electricians – whether employer exempt from paying allowance under Home Building Regulations – employees employed principally for the performance of work other than electrical wiring not required to possess licence – Commission considered meaning of ‘principally employed’ – relevant legislation directed to ensuring safety of community and employees involved in electrical wiring work – disputed words should not be read so narrowly as to lead to an outcome incompatible with the statutory purpose – employee can be ‘principally employed’ to perform a variety of tasks or duties without one, or a cluster of duties being ‘predominant’ – term ‘principally employed’ encompasses employees who perform customer work, irrespective of the proportion of time spent in performing that work – employees entitled to ELA. Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia v Endeavour Energy
