In the matter of Ryan v Whitehaven Coal Mining Pty Ltd
(Unreported, 26 June 2013) the NSW Local Court has provided a clear
interpretation on section 90(2) of the Fair Work Act 2009
(Cth). Dealing with paying out unused annual leave on termination
of employment the Local Court has confirmed that any entitlement to
leave loading is payable on termination.
Mr Ryan was an employee of Whitehaven Coal Mining Pty Ltd
(the Company) who had a number of unused annual
leave days accrued at the date of his resignation from the Company.
Mr Ryan's annual leave entitlements were governed by the
Whitehaven Opencut Operations (Tarrawonga) Enterprise Agreement
(the EA) which provided that employees were
entitled to an annual leave loading of 20%. The EA was silent as to
what the employee was to be paid should employment be terminated
while the employee had unused accrued annual leave.
