The enterprise agreement not entirely clear

Last year Uni Newcastle told professional staff they had to take extra owed leave as a savings measure (CMM November 26). Fair Work Deputy President Booth responded nothing-doing and so the university restored the days to people’s holiday balances (CMM December 7). But the university appealed, not to have another go at making staff take their leave but against some of the  reasons in the ruling.

The National Tertiary Education Union got involved but the parties reached an agreement – observers suggest a statement from management might be issued this week. In the end a full bench allowed the appeal on a narrow reading of three clauses in the enterprise agreement, applying to staff leave.

So that’s that, not that either side covered itself in industrial glory. As the bench which heard the university’s appeal put it, “the parties have understandably had a high degree of difficulty in considering these agreement clauses, and have not reached a concluded view on their operation in this case.” They suggested they should sort this out and not rely on the relevant section, 93 (3) of the Fair Work Act.

However, there is a statement in the original judgement stands, that Uni Newcastle did not, “take into consideration the individual needs of employees in relation to the taking of leave or the timing of taking the leave. It was weighted towards the needs of the university.”