Earlier this month, the Federal Court handed down its decision
in the appeal in Cohen v iSOFT Group Pty Limited, dealing
with the interpretation of employment contracts for long-term
employees. The Fair Work Act 2009 did not apply to this
dispute as the employee (Dr Cohen) was based primarily overseas.
Broadly, the facts were as follows:
Dr Cohen had worked for SW International Systems (SWI) in
Singapore from the late eighties and in 1998 entered into a new
contract with them.
In 1999, SWI became a subsidiary of the first respondent (iSOFT)
and became known as IBA Health Asia Holdings Pte Limited. At this
time Dr Cohen's brother, Gary, became the chairman of
iSOFT.
In February 2000, Dr Cohen and iSOFT entered an agreement with a
term of 3 years (2000 agreement). Although the agreement expired on
15 February 2003, Dr Cohen continued to work for iSOFT on the same
terms.
