Nearly two years ago to the day, we expressed outrage at
a Fair Work Commission decision that, in our view, incorrectly held
that casual service must be recognised when calculating redundancy
pay (see
here).
Thankfully, the Commission regained its senses this week by ruling
the exact opposite in a separate case.
A quick recap: casual employees are not entitled to redundancy
pay. However, two years ago, in a decision that caused most
employment lawyers to pause with a collective "WTF!?",
the Fair Work Commission ruled that, despite the casual exclusion,
if an employee converts from casual to permanent employment, their
casual service counts towards calculating redundancy pay. It
didn't make sense then and it still doesn't. Luckily the
Commission has taken steps to correct its mistake... err
misjudgement.
