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The High Court of Australia has issued a significant decision confirming that the Fair Work Commission (FWC) can engage in an extremely broad inquiry when determining whether it was reasonable for an employer to redeploy employees who would otherwise have been made redundant, in the context of an unfair dismissal claim. This issue is critical to whether the 'genuine redundancy' defence to an unfair dismissal claim is available.
An important decision significantly affects how employers must handle requirements that employees work public holidays. A Full Federal Court decision indicated that employers will not be able to rely solely on provisions in modern awards, enterprise agreements or contracts which require work on public holidays. Nor will they be entitled to issue a formal requirement that employees work public holidays until they have first made a non-binding request and considered the employee's response.
Australia
December 17 2020 2020 has been a significant year in industrial relations – the coming together of the Federal Government, unions and business in the IR Working Groups, as well as High Court and Full Federal Court decisions – while governments, employers, unions and the FWC all stretched and prodded the Fair Work Act and industrial instruments to meet the challenges of the pandemic.
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