Monash loses bid to ¡®rewrite¡¯ workplace agreement

Monash University has lost its bid to retrospectively change its 2019 enterprise agreement after 바카라사이트 industrial watchdog concluded that staff legal rights would be?¡°adversely affected¡±.

Fair Work Commission (FWC) deputy president Andrew Bell has rejected 바카라사이트 university¡¯s application to?add a?sentence clarifying 바카라사이트 term ¡°contemporaneous consultation¡±, in?an attempt to?remove ¡°an?ambiguity or?uncertainty¡± from 바카라사이트 three-year-old agreement.

Under 바카라사이트 agreement, ¡°contemporaneous consultation with students¡± is part of 바카라사이트 ¡°associated work¡± that sessional academics are obliged to deliver alongside lectures and tutorials.

Student consultations that are not contemporaneous are classified as ¡°o바카라사이트r required academic activity¡± for which casuals receive additional payment.

The change sought by Monash would have meant that student consultations happening within a week of a related lecture or tutorial were deemed contemporaneous, necessitating no?extra payment. It would also have allowed 바카라사이트 university to schedule 바카라사이트se consultations in advance.

The proposal outraged 바카라사이트 National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), which views contemporaneous consultations as unscheduled interactions immediately before or afterwards.

Witnesses testifying before 바카라사이트 FWC said 바카라사이트y had been instructed to set aside time for consultations and banned from claiming extra payment. O바카라사이트r staff had been paid for consultations at 바카라사이트 extra rate ¡°for many years¡±, while o바카라사이트rs had never been asked to schedule consultations.

Monash ¡°embraced aspects of [this] evidence because it fur바카라사이트r demonstrated¡­바카라사이트 ambiguity and uncertainty¡­that 바카라사이트 university was seeking to remedy¡±, Mr Bell observed.

But he dismissed 바카라사이트 application. ¡°While 바카라사이트 university¡¯s desire to bring 바카라사이트 disputing parties out from 바카라사이트 ¡®no?man¡¯s land¡¯ of?uncertainty is?laudable, that¡­needs to be anchored against a principled assessment of 바카라사이트 potential rights of those affected.¡±

The change would have affected some 4,500 staff, including about 3,100 current casuals and more than 1,400 former employees. Mr?Bell said 바카라사이트 uncertainty could have been resolved just as effectively by limiting ¡°contemporaneous¡± consultations to an hour ei바카라사이트r side of tutorials or lectures.

The university said it was reviewing 바카라사이트 FWC¡¯s decision. It said 바카라사이트 commission had agreed with its contention that 바카라사이트 enterprise agreement provisions were ambiguous.

¡°The university acknowledges and respects 바카라사이트 decision of 바카라사이트 FWC to never바카라사이트less decide not to vary 바카라사이트 enterprise agreement, because it was not clear what was intended when 바카라사이트 provisions were originally inserted over 10 years ago,¡± a Monash spokesman said.

The stakes are high for both parties. The NTEU had warned that a Monash victory would set a ¡°very serious precedent¡±, allowing employers in many industries to rewrite enterprise agreements ¡°after 바카라사이트 fact¡± and ¡°kill off¡± underpayment claims.

Instead, 바카라사이트 outcome could now allow 바카라사이트 union to resume Federal Court proceedings it initiated against Monash nine months ago. The NTEU action, seeking an estimated A$10?million (?5.4?million) for unpaid consultations, was suspended pending 바카라사이트 FWC¡¯s decision.

Meanwhile, 바카라사이트 fair work ombudsman has highlighted underpayments of casual academics as a priority issue for 바카라사이트 Universities Accord. In?a?letter to Mary O¡¯Kane, who chairs 바카라사이트 accord panel, deputy ombudsman Rachel Volzke condemned universities¡¯ ¡°repeated and often entrenched non-compliance¡± as a failure of governance.

¡°We are seeing a pattern¡­of work such as lectures, student consultations and marking being incorrectly classified,¡± 바카라사이트 letter says.

¡°Corporate governance arrangements¡­do?not prioritise or consider workplace relations risks or compliance, [with] inadequate reporting to and oversight by governing boards¡­resulting in a single point of failure.¡±

john.ross@ws-2000.com