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Genuine Operational Reasons must be Genuine |
An employee brought an unfair dismissal claim under the WorkChoices legislation after he was terminated for redundancy. The employer said his claim was barred because he was terminated for 'genuine operational reasons". The AIRC said that he was not terminated for genuine operational reasons because the reasons were not genuine, they were a sham. |
The problem arose because the employee was originally employed to work in one southern region, but his job changed to encompass other regions. On termination, the reason given was that there was no work in that one southern region, and no consideration was given to work for him in the other regions. |
The lesson is that employers should take care in terminating for operational reasons. They should note the operational requirements of the areas of the business in which the employee is working and make a determination based on the operational requirements of all of those areas. |
Link to the case: http://www.airc.gov.au/decisionssigned/html/PR974411.htm
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