Reader v P&O Catering and Services Pty Ltd [1996] IRCA 484

DECISION NO: 484/96 IN THE INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COURT OF AUSTRALIA WESTERN AUSTRALIA DISTRICT REGISTRY WI 1227 OF 1996 B E T W E E N: JAG JULIUS READER

1st Applicant

AND: THE AUSTRALIAN WORKERS UNION

2nd Applicant

A N D:

P&O CATERING AND SERVICES PTY LTD

Respondent

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT 3 OCTOBER 1996 BOON JR

INTRODUCTION

This is an application under section 170EA of the Industrial Relations Act 1988 (C'th) ("the Act") for payment of compensation arising out of the alleged unlawful termination of Mr Reader's employment by P&O Catering and Services Pty Ltd ("POCS").

The respondent, POCS, says that this Court has no jurisdiction to hear the matter as there was no termination at the initiative of the employer in this case.

The applicants, Mr Reader and the Australian Workers Union ("AWU"), allege that there was such a termination. Furthermore, Mr Reader and the AWU state that there was no valid reason for the termination and that a remedy should be granted by this Court.

The respondent says that if it is found that there was a termination at the initiative of the employer, the termination was for a valid reason based on the operational requirements of the respondent's undertaking. Further, it says that if this Court finds that there was an unlawful termination of Mr Reader's employment, it would be inappropriate in all the circumstances of this case to grant any remedy to Mr Reader.

THE EVIDENCE

P&O Catering and Services Pty Ltd provides crews of workers, including chefs, cooks and cleaners, to various construction and civil engineering sites around Western Australia. Mr Reader is a chef, whose most recent employment relationship with POCS began in January 1995. He worked for the respondent on various sites before he commenced on Varanus Island (on the North-West Shelf of Western Australia) as a chef on 26 September 1995. Mr Reader was part of a work crew of four or five people who provided catering and cleaning services to a construction crew building a gas plant on Varanus Island.