ARTICLE · 08 AUGUST 2011

Reinstatement despite serious safety breach

Moray & Agnew

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Past employment record and personal circumstances sufficient to justify reinstatement.

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Helmut Schuster v Australian Steel Mill Services Pty Limited [2011] NSWIRComm 1028 (30 June 2011)

Past employment record and personal circumstances sufficient to justify reinstatement

Ordinarily an issue between a dismissed individual employee and his former employer would not constitute an industrial dispute for the purposes of s146B: Roberts v Mona Vale District Hospital (1975) 2 NSWLR 132. Unfair dismissal claims heard under Part 6 are customarily heard under a separate code of jurisdiction: Woolstar Pty Limited v Federated Storemen and Packers Union of Australia (1992) 45 IR 39 at p.49. However, the involvement of a trade union in bringing proceedings on behalf of the employee gives the dismissal of an employee the status of an industrial dispute: Jovanovski v BlueScope Steel (AIS) Pty Limited [2007] NSWIRComm 1019.

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