Walter W Keating v W D Rose Funeral Services a division of Service Industries of Australia Pty Ltd [1995] IRCA 59

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COURT OF AUSTRALIA VICTORIA DISTRICT REGISTRY

VI 1867 of 1994

BETWEEN:

WALTER W. KEATING Applicant

AND

W.D. ROSE FUNERAL SERVICES A DIVISION OF SERVICE INDUSTRIES OF AUSTRALIA PTY LTD Respondent

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT (EX TEMPORE) (Revised from Draft Transcript)

16 February 1995 Judicial Registrar Murphy

Introduction

This is an application under Division 3 of Part VIA of the Industrial Relations Act whereby the applicant alleges that his employment was unlawfully terminated by the respondent from whom he seeks compensation. The applicant commenced employment with the respondent on 23 August 1994 and ceased employment on 4 October 1994. He was given one week's notice on 27 September 1994. He worked with the respondent as a funeral assistant/arranger. The respondent's business has been sold and from 17 January 1995 the respondent is no longer in the funeral industry.

Circumstances Of Appointment

The applicant responded to an advertisement in the Age newspaper which was titled:

ARRANGER-FUNERAL ASSISTANT Well presented, mature, thinking person, 40 plus to be trained as funeral arranger-assistant. No previous experience needed.

He had an interview with Mr Feher of the respondent and a few days after the interview was appointed to the position which paid a basic salary of $846.18 per fortnight. Upon commencing, the respondent provided the applicant with on-the-job training in a number of aspects of its activities in the funeral industry, from the preparation of the body to the trimming of the coffin, to the actual conduct of a funeral service.

The applicant gave evidence that at no time in the course of his employment was there any formal criticism of his performance, except on one occasion where a funeral conductor admonished the three funeral assistants for the way they had conducted a particular service. The applicant had commenced employment at the same time as two other funeral assistants.