Under s 62(2) of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act)
a full-time employee may refuse to work hours in a week in addition
to 38 if the additional hours are unreasonable. If you dismiss an
employee for refusing to work those additional hours, the employee
may challenge the dismissal as a contravention of the general
protections provisions (s 340) in the FW Act.
This is the claim made in Brown v Premier Pet ([2012] FMCA 1089)
by an employee worked as a full time fish keeper in a Brisbane fish
store. The employer offered voluntary overtime to employees to
undertake routine maintenance work on non-trading days, including
Saturday, Sunday and public holidays. However the employer gave the
employee 14 days' notice that the overtime would become
mandatory and the employee would be required to work 3 additional
hours on a non-trading day once every seven to 10 non-trading days.
The employee objected and proposed that he be granted time in lieu
during the working week. The
