Background

The employee commenced employment as an organiser with the respondent union in July 2018. The initial employment arrangements were relatively informal.

The employee was later elected unopposed to one of five positions of the CFMMEU Western Australia Divisional Branch organiser commencing from 1 January 2021. The elected position had a term of 4 years.

About 18 months into the 4 year term, the employee discovered that one of the union’s assistant secretaries had asked another employee to observe his performance and report back to the assistant secretary. The applicant confronted the assistant secretary about this and sent several text messages to other colleagues which alluded to quitting. He did not return to work.

Contentions

The employee made the claim under s 29(1)(d) of the Industrial Relations Act 1979 (WA), that he had been denied a contractual benefit.

The employee claimed that his elected position guaranteed him employment for a four-year fixed term, subject to limited ways the employment could be terminated early. He alleged the employer had terminated his employment by a letter confirming his redundancy. He sought compensation for the lost wages resulting from this alleged breach.

The employer argued that the employee was not entitled to a fixed-term contract and that he voluntarily quit his job but the employer then allowed him to characterise the termination of the employment as a redundancy.  It argued that there was no breach of contract on its part.

Findings

The Commission dismissed the application.

The Commission found that on his last day of work, the employee told several colleagues that he quit. However, it found that at a subsequent meeting with the union secretary, he agreed to end the employment by substituting a mutual termination, treated as a redundancy, on terms that were financially favourable compared with him simply having resigned.

As the employer did not terminate the employment, the circumstances did not constitute a denied contractual benefit.

The decision can be read here.