CPSU, Community & Public Sector Union v State of Victoria

The case of CPSU, Community & Public Sector Union v State of Victoria involved an application by the union against the State of Victoria under the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cth). The dispute centred on the classification of certain prison officers at Barwon prison as casual employees and whether their employment conditions breached certain provisions of the Act. The specific issues before the Court were whether the employees were genuinely casual and if there had been a breach of the Act in terms of the freedom of association and training opportunities for union members.

The Court examined the employment conditions of the officers in question and concluded that despite the regular rostering, the employees could make themselves unavailable for duty and had the flexibility to accept or reject work at will, which are characteristics of casual employment. The Court also found that the union's allegations of denial of training opportunities on account of union involvement were not substantiated. Therefore, the union's application regarding the breach of freedom of association was dismissed.

The Court declared that the prison officers in question were indeed casual employees as per the Public Sector Management Act 1992 (Vic). It also dismissed the application regarding the alleged breach of Part XA of the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cth) and adjourned the application concerning the alleged breach of s 178 of the Act for a future mention.

The final orders of the Court were that the second and third applicants were casual employees as defined in Div 5A of Part 2 of the Public Sector Management Act 1992 (Vic), the application alleging breach of Part XA of the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cth) was dismissed, and the application alleging breach of s 178 of the Act was adjourned for mention on 6 April 2000.