Newman v State of Queensland (Queensland Health)

Newman appealed to the Court against a decision of the Queensland Public Service Commission to deny his request to convert his employment from casual to permanent. The Commission had decided that there was a genuine operational requirement for his employment to remain on a casual basis. Clause 8.1 of Directive 08/20, which applies to the conversion of employment from casual to permanent, requires the chief executive to consider whether there is a continuing need for the employee to be employed in a role, or a role that is substantially the same. Queensland Health accepted that there was a continuing need for Mr Newman to be employed in the role, and Mr Newman met the merit requirements to be converted to a permanent position. The only matter in dispute was whether there was a genuine operational requirement for Mr Newman's employment not to be converted to permanent.

The Court found that Queensland Health's submissions on this point were not supported by the evidence. Mr Newman had been engaged to backfill various roles, to perform work in temporary established positions and to backfill vacant positions. Queensland Health contended that Mr Newman had only been contracted to cover roles where the incumbent position holder had been temporarily absent or for short term vacant positions. However, the Court found that there was no evidence to support this contention, and that Mr Newman had been engaged in a variety of roles over a period of time. The Court concluded that there was no genuine operational requirement for Mr Newman's employment not to be converted to permanent.

The Court set aside the decision of the Commission and substituted it with a decision that Mr Newman's employment was to be converted to permanent. The Court ordered that the Appellant's employment was to be converted to permanent, in accordance with s 562C(1)(c) of the Industrial Relations Act 2016 (Qld).