As reported in the last journal the AMIEU took Conroys Smallgoods to court over non payment of entitlements to its workers when they closed the Pace Trading plant at Royal Park.

In a decision by Magistrate Hardy in the South Australian Industrial relations Court it has been upheld that casual employees who are engaged on a regular and continuous basis for anything other than short term arrangements are entitled to notice of termination.

This means that notice must be given according to length of service.

If no notice is given then the employees are entitled to payment in lieu of notice.

In the case taken to the SAIRC the court ordered back pay for the notice period not given by Conroys.

This is a good decision and shows that just because you may call someone a casual, they may be treated as permanent workers if engaged for long periods and entitled to the same benefits.

Another case yet to be decided is the closure of the Port Pirie plant where the company used annual leave entitlements to avoid paying notice of termination.

A decision is expected from the Court in May.