Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union v Dick Stone Pty Ltd

The case of Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union v Dick Stone Pty Ltd involved a dispute between the Union and the company, Dick Stone, regarding the classification of an employee, Mr Boateng, and various other employment-related issues. The Union argued that Mr Boateng was incorrectly classified as a Level 3 employee instead of a Level 4 employee under the Meat Industry Award 2010. It also contended that Dick Stone had contravened the National Employment Standards by not paying Mr Boateng overtime rates for working more than 50 hours a week. Additionally, the Union alleged that Dick Stone failed to provide Mr Boateng with a Fair Work Information Statement, did not make the Meat Industry Award and the NES accessible to him, did not post rosters, and underpaid his superannuation. The court was required to determine whether the Regents Park establishment was a "meat processing establishment" or a "meat retail establishment" within the meaning of the Meat Industry Award 2010, and whether Mr Boateng's classification as a Level 3 employee was correct. The court also needed to decide whether Dick Stone contravened the National Employment Standards by not paying Mr Boateng overtime rates for working more than 50 hours a week, and whether it was entitled to set off payments of wages over Award amounts against any failure to pay overtime rates. The court further had to consider whether additional hours were "unreasonable" within the meaning of section 62 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), whether Dick Stone contravened section 125 of the Act by failing to give Mr Boateng a copy of the Fair Work Information Statement, whether it breached the Award by failing to make the Award and NES available to Mr Boateng, whether it failed to post rosters, and whether it underpaid Mr Boateng's superannuation.

The court held that the Regents Park establishment was not a "meat processing establishment", as the Union contended, but a "meat retail establishment", as Dick Stone maintained. The court found that Mr Boateng was properly classified as a Meat Industry Level 4 employee, not a Level 3 employee, which was the level at which he was remunerated. The court determined that Dick Stone failed to pay overtime rates to Mr Boateng for hours worked between 2 am and 4 am Monday to Saturday in contravention of clauses 31.2(d) and 36.1(a) of the Award. The court held that Dick Stone did not convey to Mr Boateng its intention to incorporate overtime entitlements into his wages either in his contract of employment or in any other document and did not identify in his pay slips any amounts for overtime for hours worked under 50 hours a week. In these circumstances, it was not entitled to a set off. The court held that having regard to all relevant circumstances, Dick Stone contravened section 62 of the FW Act by requiring or requesting Mr Boateng to work 12 additional hours every week of his employment. That request was not reasonable. The court also held that Dick Stone contravened section 125 of the FW Act by not giving Mr Boateng a Fair Work Information Statement before, or as soon as reasonably practicable after, he commenced his employment. The court found that a copy of the FWIS was not included in the employment pack he received. In contravention of clause 5 of the Award, the court found that Dick Stone failed to ensure that copies of the Award and the NES were available to Mr Boateng during his employment either on a noticeboard conveniently located at or near the workplace or electronically. Lastly, the court found that Dick Stone contravened clause 34.2 of the Award by failing to post a roster on the premises from December 2017.

The court ordered that within 28 days the parties bring in short minutes of order giving effect to these reasons and the matter be listed at 9.30 am on 4 July 2022 for case management of the further hearing with respect to the outstanding matters.