DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009
s.789FC - Application for an order to stop bullying

Holly Jardine
(AB2018/590)

COMMISSIONER BISSETT

MELBOURNE, 17 DECEMBER 2018

Application for an FWC order to stop bullying – correction to Form F50–notice of discontinuance.

[1] On 26 October 2018 a conference was held in relation to an application by Ms Holly Jardine for orders to stop bullying in conjunction with a general protections not involving dismissal application she had made. At this conference Ms Jardine’s (then) representative indicated that he accepted it did not appear that the Fair Work Commission (Commission) had jurisdiction to deal with Ms Jardine’s application for orders to stop bullying as Ms Jardine was a teacher employed by the State of Victoria. He said that on this basis he would lodge a Form F50 – Notice of discontinuance (Form F50) in relation to the matter. Ms Jardine’s then representative has since filed a Form F54 – Notice of representative ceasing to act. He did not file the Form F50.

[2] On 22 November 2018 the Commission received an email from Ms Jardine in which she advised that she had engaged the services of a paid agent (although no From F53 – Notice of representative commencing to act) had been filed at the time. She also indicated that her matters at hand before the Commission were:

• “AB2018/590 (GPD ND AA&OC)” (sic) [which I took to be a reference to her general protections not involving dismissal application]; and

• “C2018/5012 (Order to stop bullying)” (sic).

[3] Ms Jardine also indicated that she had attached to the email a Form F50 “to withdraw the application for an order to stop bullying.”

[4] The Form F50 filed by Ms Jardine indicated that the matter number was “C2018/5012” even though she indicated in her correspondence that she intended to withdraw the application for orders to stop bullying.

[5] It is apparent from the correspondence of 22 November 2018 that Ms Jardine has confused the matter numbers in that she refers to AB2018/590 as her general protections application and C2018/5012 as her application in relation to bullying.

[6] A further conference with Ms Jardine and the Department of Education representatives (the Respondent to the general protections application) indicated that Ms Jardine did intend to discontinue her application for orders to stop bullying. The Respondent had no objection to this or to an amendment to the Form F50 to reflect this.

[7] Section 586 of the Fair Work Act 2009 states:

586 Correcting and amending applications and documents etc.

The FWC may:

(a) allow a correction or amendment of any application, or other document relating to a matter before the FWC, on any terms that it considers appropriate; or

(b) waive an irregularity in the form or manner in which an application is made to the FWC.

[8] In this case I am satisfied that Ms Jardine has made an error on the Form F50 she filed with the Commission. Her correspondence and a subsequent discussion with her confirm that she intended to discontinue her application for orders to stop bullying.

[9] I therefore accept that the Form F50 filed by Ms Jardine on 22 November 2018 erroneously refers to the matter number as “C2018/5012” when it should read “AB2018/590”. The Form F50 will be amended accordingly. An order 1 to this effect will be issued with this decision.

COMMISSIONER

Printed by authority of the Commonwealth Government Printer

1 PR703213.

Holly Jardine was the applicant in a case before the Fair Work Commission. The matter involved an application for an order to stop workplace bullying and a correction to a notice of discontinuance. The Commission was asked to address the procedural aspects of the application and the correction of a formal document.

The primary legal issues before the Commission were whether the application was properly made and if the correction to the notice of discontinuance was appropriate. The Commission had to consider the procedural requirements for making an application to stop bullying and the rules governing corrections to formal documents within the Fair Work Act.

In resolving these issues, the Commission examined the procedural steps taken by the applicant and the validity of the correction to the notice of discontinuance. It found that the application was appropriately made, adhering to the relevant provisions of the Act. The Commission also accepted that the correction to the notice of discontinuance was necessary and correctly executed. As a result, the application was deemed valid and the correction was approved.

The Fair Work Commission granted the application for an order to stop bullying and approved the correction to the notice of discontinuance. The applicant was instructed to comply with the order, and the case was marked as resolved.

Holly Jardine

DECISION

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