Industrial Relations law firm Slater & Gordon, on behalf of the Together Union, have today filed a court challenge in relation to changes to the Public Service Act and Industrial Relations Act introduced by the State Government last week.
Employment and industrial lawyer, Andrew Rich, said the State Government passed legislation in an attempt to defeat Supreme Court proceedings which challenged the Directives issued by the Public Service Commissioner that removed job security for public servants.
“The legislation now provides that clauses about contracting, employment security and organisational change in existing certified agreements are of no effect,” Mr Rich said.
“We will argue that the legislation breaches the separation of powers in the Queensland Constitution in that it interferes with concluded judicial proceedings by overriding agreements certified by the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission.
“We also argue that the legislation undermines the integrity and the appearance of independence and impartiality of the QIRC and therefore also contravenes the Australian Constitution,” he said.