T6412
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TASMANIAN INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION Industrial Relations Act 1984 Australian Municipal, Administrative, Clerical and Services Union INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS (NON TEACHING STAFF) AWARD
Award variation - wage rates - third $8.00 Safety Net Adjustment - first aid allowance - application granted - award varied - operative date ffpp 18 September 1996 REASONS FOR DECISION This amended application, was lodged for the purpose of varying the above award to reflect the third $8 Safety Net Adjustment and increase the first aid allowance arising out of the State Wage Case decision (T Nos. 6284 and 6305 of 1996) handed down on 24 July 1996. The amended application came before the Commission as a consent matter. The award sought to be varied, reflected the first and second $8 per week Safety Net Adjustment and more than 12 months had elapsed between the second and third level Safety Net Adjustment. I am satisfied that all the registered employee organisations with an interest in the respective awards have given a commitment to review the awards in the context of: (i) Consistent awards formatting; (ii) Removal of discriminatory provisions; (ii) Removal of obsolete or amendment of inaccurate award provisions; (iv) Update Clause 6 - Parties and Persons Bound; (v) Rewrite the award in plain English; (vi) The appropriate use of flexibility provisions; (vii) The inclusion of an appropriate enterprise flexibility clause. The submissions presented by the parties conform with the requirements of the Wage Fixing Principles and the public interest requirements of s.36 of the Act. Therefore the award will be varied in the manner sought by the parties, and I decide accordingly. OPERATIVE DATE Mrs H Dowd, for the applicant, requested the operative date be from the first full pay period to commence on or after 27 August 1996. In support of that date, it was her submission that the application had been lodged with the Commission on 24 July 1996 and had set the matter down for hearing on 27 August 1996. However, not all parties to the award had been advised of the date and time of hearing as required under the Act and as a result this led to a delay in hearing the application. Mrs Dowd submitted that in equity, good conscience and on the merit of the matter, employees should not be disadvantaged by the delay brought about by the requirement to re-list this hearing. On the other hand, Mr S Gates, for the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Limited, opposed the submission of Mrs Dowd and instead submitted that the operative date should be the first full pay period to commence on or after 18 September 1996. He said that when the matter was first listed for hearing on 27 August 1996 the application was not validly before the Commission in that not all the parties had been advised of the hearing date. He said that the 18 September was the first opportunity for all the parties to come before the Commission and put their submissions on the facts surrounding the application. He went on to say that it would be wrong for the Commission in equity, good conscience and the public interest to give a retrospective operative date. Section 37(5) of the Act states inter alia:
Having considered the submissions of the parties I have arrived at the conclusion that there are no special circumstances that would warrant the Commission in granting retrospectivity, and I decide accordingly. Given the foregoing, the operative date of the Order arising out of this decision will be the first full pay period on or after the 18 September 1996.
R J Watling Appearances: Date and place of hearing:
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