Fire Brigade Employees’ Union of New South Wales v Industrial Relations Secretary on behalf of Fire and Rescue NSW [2020] NSWIRComm 1002

Industrial Relations Commission New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Fire Brigade Employees' Union of New South Wales v Industrial Relations Secretary on behalf of Fire and Rescue NSW [2020] NSWIRComm 1002 Hearing dates: 13 December 2019 Date of orders: 14 January 2020 Decision date: 14 January 2020 Jurisdiction: Industrial Relations Commission Before: Commissioner Sloan Decision: 1. I determine that:

(1) cl 36 of the Crown Employees (Fire and Rescue NSW Permanent Firefighting Staff) Award 2017 applies to the circumstances of this case; and

(2) pursuant to cl 36.7 of that award there can be no implementation of the change anticipated by In Order 2019/20 until the Commission has determined the substantive matter before it in these proceedings, subject to further order of the Commission.

2. Fire and Rescue NSW is directed not to implement In Order 2019/20 in so far as it departs from the practices and procedures prescribed by In Order 2008/22, subject to further order of the Commission.

3. The Motion is otherwise dismissed. Catchwords: EMPLOYMENT AND INDUSTRIAL LAW – Awards and enterprise agreements – Interpretation – proposed implementation of new procedures – whether such implementation is "organisational change" for the purposes of the relevant awards – whether dispute resolution procedures require maintenance of status quo pending determination of the dispute Legislation Cited: Fire and Rescue Act 1989 (NSW) s 5A(1) Fire Brigades Regulation 2014 (NSW) reg 4 Industrial Relations Act 1996 (NSW) ss 8, 84, 87(7), 130, 136(1)(a), 175 Cases Cited: Health Services Union New South Wales and Ambulance Service of New South Wales [2017] NSWIRComm 1057 New South Wales Nurses and Midwives' Association v Health Secretary on behalf of Western NSW Local Health District [2019] NSWIRComm 1025 Davis v Industrial Relations Secretary (on behalf of the NSW Rural Fire Service) [2019] NSWIRComm 1064 Texts Cited: Macquarie Dictionary Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Fire Brigade Employees' Union of New South Wales (Notifier)