Patrick Stevedores No 1 Ltd T/As Patrick the Australian Stevedores v Divers

Patrick Stevedores No 1 Ltd trading as Patrick the Australian Stevedores (Patrick) appealed to the New South Wales Court of Appeal against a decision of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The dispute concerned the interpretation and application of a redundancy clause within a certified industrial award, specifically whether the redundancy payments were to be calculated based on the employee's ordinary weekly wage or their average weekly earnings.

The primary legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the term "ordinary weekly wage" as used in the relevant award clause for the calculation of redundancy pay encompassed all components of an employee's remuneration, including overtime payments, or was limited to the base rate of pay. This required the court to consider the established principles of award interpretation, particularly in the context of industrial instruments and the potential for ambiguity in such clauses.

The Court of Appeal, in its reasoning, referred to established principles of award interpretation, emphasising that the plain and ordinary meaning of the words used in an award should be given effect, unless there is a clear indication to the contrary. The court considered previous authorities on the meaning of "ordinary weekly wage" in industrial awards and concluded that, in the absence of specific wording to include overtime, it typically refers to the base rate of pay. The court found that the award clause in question did not contain sufficient indication that "ordinary weekly wage" was intended to include average weekly earnings or overtime.

Consequently, the Court of Appeal allowed Patrick's appeal, finding that the redundancy payments were to be calculated based on the ordinary weekly wage, excluding overtime. The court ordered that the matter be remitted to the Supreme Court for re-assessment of the redundancy payments in accordance with this interpretation.