Details 

 Created: 17 June 2020

The Director General of the Department of Education WA applied to the Commission for an order to stay orders pending a Full Bench decision where special circumstances justifying the stay were found to have been made out.

The applicant sought a stay of orders 1 and 2 in the order made on 29 May 2020 by the Commission. Those orders were that:

(1) the union’s member, a teacher, be returned to employment with the Department of Education WA within 21 days of the date of this order and, as soon as is practicable, be returned to work at a school other than Busselton Senior High School; and

(2) the service of the union’s member with the respondent be deemed continuous for all relevant purposes.

Chief Commissioner Scott noted that the orders sought to be stayed would have returned the union’s member to employment with the applicant within a matter of days. The Commission also noted that the grounds of appeal relate to issues of the union’s member’s fitness to work and issues of trust and confidence in the employment relationship. Scott CC found that, in those circumstances, to not stay the orders would render the appeal nugatory.

Scott CC also found, in considering the prospects of success of the appeal, that the grounds of appeal raise some arguable issues.

Scott CC found that orders 1 and 2 of the Commission’s order of 29 May 2020 ought to be stayed and has issued an order to that effect.

The decision can be read here.