Upcoming Mallesons seminarsIn the March edition of the Newsletter, we reported on a decision of the Full Bench of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission which varied the Metal, Engineering and Associated Industries Award 1998 (“the Award”) to confer upon casual employees the right to convert to permanent positions and to increase the casual loading from 20% to 25%.
When the Full Bench handed down its decision it gave the parties an opportunity to make further submissions about the precise terms of the Order the Full Bench would make to implement its decision. Those submissions have now been made and the Full Bench has announced the formal Order. Following the announcement of this Order some press reports suggested the Full Bench had diluted the decision particularly by allowing employers the right to refuse an employee’s election to take permanency upon reasonable grounds. In our view, this press coverage was somewhat misleading. The original decision allowed for an employer to refuse a casual employee’s election to become permanent provided it “did not do so unreasonably”. The Order made by the Full Bench i consistent with this decision. Any dispute over such a matter must be dealt with under the Award’s dispute settlement process.
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