Employers need valid reason to sack: PM
April 24, 2007 - 11:04AM
AdvertisementAdvertisement
Employers cannot use operational reasons as a justification to sack workers only to re-advertise the same position at lower salary, Prime Minister John Howard says.
His comments follow a landmark Australian Industrial Relations Commission ruling reported in News Ltd newspapers that the government's Work Choices legislation had given companies broader grounds to sack workers under the guise of operational reasons.
"The question of a valid reason need not be considered when an argument is advanced regarding the termination being for operational reason, or reasons that included operational reasons," the AIRC found.
The ruling related to a dispute between retail chain Priceline and former employee Andrew Cruickshank, 42, who was made redundant in November only to have his position advertised and filled at a lower salary.
Mr Howard said companies always had been able to make employees redundant if their position was no longer needed.
However, he said the definition of operational reasons did not extend to sacking workers simply to employ someone at a lower rate.
"Operational reasons are not and should never be seen as code for saying `I will get rid of X because I'm paying him $100,000 a year so I can employ Y at $80,000 a year'," Mr Howard told ABC radio in Brisbane.
"There has to be a bona-fide operational reason and that of course has always been in the law."
© 2007
AAP
I guess labour hire is different?