Concerns over toilet pressure not enough for industrial action

Key Points:

Each of the workers were ordered to pay the $1,000 pecuniary penalty.

The Federal Court has held that workers' concerns over toilet pressure on a construction site is not enough of an imminent threat to safety which would justify the taking of industrial action.

The decision of Director of the Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate v Merkx [2015] demonstrates that for employees to be able to lawfully take action in relation to concerns about health and safety in the workplace, that action must be based on a reasonable concern that there is an imminent risk to the employee's health and safety. In that case, 22 workers were each fined $1,000 for walking off the job due to health concerns, which included low water pressure in the job site's bathrooms.