Re Fire and Rescue NSW Firefighting Staff Awards 2021

COURT OR TRIBUNAL

Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales

DATE FILED (OR FIRST HEARING DATE)

22/02/2021

LITIGATION TYPE

Access to Justice

SUBJECT MATTER

Employment

REVIEW TYPE

N/A

SUMMARY

Employment and industrial law — Awards — applications for new awards to rescind and replace existing awards — whether increases to rates of pay required — consideration of the state of the economy of NSW — application of Wage Fixing Principles — whether additional changes ought to be made to current award terms — whether exceptional circumstances exists to allow for effective date of awards to be back-dated Excerpt from judgment: [106] However, the question for determination by the Commission is whether climate change, as allegedly evidenced by the bushfires and floods, gives rise to a special case within the meaning of the Wage Fixing Principles. While the events may have been “out of the ordinary”, the question is whether the demands made of Firefighters as a consequence of those events should resonate in an increase in the Award Rates

CASE DOCUMENTS

Re Fire and Rescue NSW Firefighting Staff Awards 2021 [2021] NSWIRComm 1062