TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT – misconduct – s.394 Fair Work Act 2009 – application for unfair dismissal remedy – respondent submitted the applicant committed serious misconduct – respondent alleged applicant engaged in serious misconduct by sending sexually explicit and pornographic images to his manager – respondent submitted this was a serious breach of the code of conduct – applicant submitted that this behaviour was normal within the team culture – he also submitted he did not receive any warning nor any counselling and was denied procedural fairness – Commission found the applicants misconduct was serious and constituted valid reason for dismissal – also found the respondent took adequate steps to notify applicant of allegations – Commission found applicant’s dismissal was not harsh, unjust or unreasonable – application dismissed.Higgins v Coles Supermarkets Australia P/L t/a Coles
December 4, 2017
TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT – minimum employment period – associated entities – s.394 Fair Work Act 2009 – s.50AAA Corporations Act 2001 – application for unfair dismissal remedy – jurisdictional objection – whether applicant met the minimum employment period to be a protected from unfair dismissal – applicant first employed by Games Laboratory (‘GL’) for 14 months and was employed by TGS for two months – unless period of service with GL was recognised, minimum employment period would not have been completed – applicant submitted period of service with GL counted as service with TGS – respondent argued no transfer of employment occurred as the companies were not associated entities – Commission found companies to be associated entities because TGS had capacity to determine the outcome of decisions of GL or vice versa – each entity had the same two directors – both directors had controlling interests and equal share holdings in both companies – director had practical control over the financial and operating policies of both companies – therefore there had been a transfer of applicant’s employment and applicant’s service with GL was recognised – jurisdictional objection dismissed. Charan v Meeples P/L atf The Games Shop Trust t/a The Games Shop
December 4, 2017
TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT – genuine redundancy – ss.389, 394 Fair Work Act 2009 – application for unfair dismissal remedy – jurisdictional objection – respondent claimed dismissal was a genuine redundancy – respondent restructured its operations which resulted in positions being redundant – whether dismissal was a genuine redundancy – whether respondent complied with obligation to consult under applicable modern award – whether redeployment was reasonable – Commission satisfied respondent made reasonable efforts to redeploy applicant within Foxtel – satisfied respondent complied with consultation obligations – accepted jurisdictional objection relating to ss.389(1), 389(2)(a) FW Act – insufficient evidence available on redeployment opportunities within respondent’s associated entities with respect to s.389(2)(b) FW Act – directions to be issued for the filing of material relevant to respondent’s associated entities and all available roles at the time of dismissal for which applicant could have been considered for redeployment. Webber v Foxtel Management P/L t/a Foxtel TV
December 4, 2017
GENERAL PROTECTIONS – extension of time – representative error – ss.365, 366 Fair Work Act 2017 – application to deal with contraventions involving dismissal lodged seven days out of time – applicant contended application late due to representative error – also exceptional circumstances existed as critical staff needed to lodge the application were absent due to illness and if applicant had not followed up delay might have been longer – representative took full responsibility for the error [Jones v Dunkel] – employer submitted representative error only one ‘element’ amongst others and the circumstances were not ‘out of the ordinary course’ [R v Kelly (Edward)] – Commission satisfied delay solely attributable to unexpected staff absences during final week of 21 day lodgement period – delay was due to representative error – applicant blameless for delay – satisfied applicant took steps to dispute dismissal – extension of time granted. Martin v Brisbane Plumbing and Sewer P/L t/a Brisbane Plumbing and Sewer
December 4, 2017
Fourteen of today’s forty-two unfair dismissal/employment dispute applications emanate from a single employer (Australasian Global Dairies Pty Ltd). The full list to be heard by the Fair Work Commission: Vennigie Pty Ltd & Wallm Pty Ltd (Farrell), D Cox & K Cox (Laine), Andersens Tweed Heads (Bond), DJ Ruskin Machining and Maintenance (Murphy), Western Downs Regional Council (Maloney), Kormilda College Ltd (Brown), Sam Technology Engineers Pty Ltd (Bernadou), Gunbalanya Sports and Social club Inc. (Wood), Audi Enterprises Pty Ltd (Caine, Zintchenko), Bacchus Marsh Coaches Pty Ltd (Nash), RS Components (Chand), Infosys Technologies Pty Ltd (Sriram), GTS Travel Management (Zhang), Australasian Global Dairies Pty Ltd (Chang, Chen, Chiang, Chin, Hou, Huang, Lee, Liu, Ou, Shih, Teng, Wang, Wu, Yang), The Trustee for Royal Blue Family Trust & Singh (Neha), Zodiac Group Australia Pty Ltd (Zaballero), DOMINELLI Group Pty Ltd (Zhang), Technical and Further Education Commission (Quai-Hoi), Daisii Designs Pty Ltd (Brown), Sydney International Container Terminals Pty Limited (Colwell), German Shepherd World (Lambert), Resource People Pty Ltd (McDonald), Travelex Ltd (Shahzad), City of Stirling (Nitschke), Ableridge Pty Limited & Monaghan and Another (Maharaj).
December 1, 2017
Twenty-seven unfair dismissal/employment disputes are listed for hearing before the Fair Work Commission this morning. The full list is: Aurizon Holdings Pty Ltd (Lanyon), Qantas Airways Ltd (Staniforth), Stone Mason and Artist Pty Ltd (Palmer), Hair Republic (Pellew), Isabellas Child Care Centre Pty Ltd Bells Trust (Schonknecht), Staley Holdings Pty Ltd (Hutton), Ceramic Distributors Pty Ltd (Kelly), Mid West Ports Authority (Drohan), Perina Group Pty Ltd (Jeakings), Zoological Parks and Gardens Board (Lekos), National Union of Workers – New South Wales Branch (Belan), Cash in Transit Pty Ltd (Pool), Pipemakers Australia Pty Ltd (Wilson), Needlework Tours Pty Ltd (Olesen), Beaute Pacifique Skincare Pty Ltd (Gorski), Medibank Private Limited (Baddeley), Fresh Cheese Co (Aust) Pty Ltd (Condello), Illawarra Coal Holdings Pty Ltd (McLachlan), Canterbury Trading Pty Ltd (Maybury), MSS Security (Knott), Programmed Skilled Workforce Ltd (Ireland), Collection House Pty Ltd (Tareha), QF Cabin Crew Australia Pty Ltd (Bayfield), Miros Services Pty Ltd (Woods), Surfers Paradise RSL Sub Branch Inc (Robson), Ceramic Distributors Pty Ltd (Kelly), Toxfree (Makuaj).
November 30, 2017
Thirty unfair dismissal/employment dispute applications are listed for hearing today in the Fair Work Commission. The full list is: Sydney International Container Terminals Pty Limited (Colwell), Eye Lighting Australia Pty Ltd (Seymour), HM (Aust) Franchising Pty Ltd (Feldmann), City of Stirling (Emery), Illawarra Coal Holdings Pty Ltd (Gosek), Stonehouse Family Trust (Kennewell), Kyabram District Health Service (Williams), Risk Management and Safety Systems Pty Ltd (Scawthorn), Zaly Pty Ltd (Konszky), GMG Stone (Aguilar), Steric Solutions Pty Ltd (Trialonas), Alpha Flight Services (Pecoski), Trialonas (Docherty), Melbourne Flight Training Pty Ltd (Paizis), Cerebral Palsy Alliance (Turner), ILSC Brisbane Pty Ltd (Carr, Pathik), Westfund Limited (Aleman), Beachsea (Philippot), Emerald Refrigerated Logistics (Spencer), Queensland AIDS Council Inc (Scott), Rick’s at Bargara (McDonald), Bartercard Operations Aus Pty Ltd (Abraham), International Educational Services Ltd (Kidd), Toll Transport Pty Ltd (Bliesner), Charles Parletta Real Estate Pty Ltd (D’Ortenzio), Sydney Night Patrol & Inquiry Co Pty Ltd (Fang), B and K Fisher (Campbell).
November 29, 2017
Twenty five unfair dismissal/employment contract dispute applications will be processed by Fair Work commissioners today. The full list is: Pets Unit Trust (Loring), Whitehaven Coal Mining Limited (Warren), People Care Pty Ltd (Sippel), Rocks on Rosalind (Power-Hall), Excel Building Management Pty Ltd (Velandia), Food Bank Australia (Loriso), QBE Insurance (Australia) Ltd (Singh), Aceplus (Scott), City of Stirling (Emery), RPA Railway PossessiAustralia Pty Ltd (Cross), MaxiTRANS Australia Pty Ltd (Pigdon), Australian Postal Corporation (Bahoric), MSS Security Pty Ltd (Findley), LC Dyson’s Bus Services Pty Ltd (Krstevski), Fujitsu Australia Ltd & Walsh and Others (McCormack), ATM Logistics Pty Ltd (Molony), Bacchus Marsh Coaches Pty Ltd (Nash), Patrick Projects Pty Ltd (Deeney & Hughes and Others), Department of Human Services (Ford), Barada Barna Aboriginal Corporation (Dargan, Roos), Victory Church (Dailly), Charles Parletta Real Estate Pty Ltd (D’Ortenzio), St George College Inc (Griffith), Woolworths Limited and Woolworths (South Australia) Pty Limited (Penttila).
