New state Director wants to abolish all part time roles

[Rebekahp]

This is not a joke! Our new state director wants to get rid of all the part time roles in the office, because it is too confusing! He is openly telling everyone this, my manager who is the National HR manager has not addressed this with him.

I believe this is totally abhorrent, the business has an enterprise agreement in place & I am checking with the FWO to see if there is any recourse for this view. Can he legally abolish part time roles? The irony is that the company wants to become an EOWA.

[Qld IR Consultant]

If there is an EA in place that clearly covers PT positions then good luck to him. However, if he is acting like he is then be prepared for him to push every other avenue he can to get rid of them. Performance Management, Redundancy, Restructure. Just be mindful that unions are having a crack at any "sham" restructures they can get there hands on lately. Companies wonder how unions get into their workplaces. Easy answer. Managers like the one you just told us about. Your HR Manager needs to step up and nip this in the bud or its going to get out of hand very quickly. Good Luck.

[brobinson]

I've heard something similar before, but admin/understanding the part time roles is really no excuse, particularly if he wants to be an EOWA!

Anyway, he won't be able to get rid of people if they have requested part time roles under the Fair Work Act Flexible Work Arrangements!! Well, unless there are reasonable business grounds...

[Qld IR Consultant]

Anyway, he won't be able to get rid of people if they have requested part time roles under the Fair Work Act Flexible Work Arrangements!! Well, unless there are reasonable business grounds...[/quote]

Exactly...thats where my warning on the sham redundancy comes in....

[Rebekahp]

Thanks for the replies.

If there is an EA in place that clearly covers PT positions then good luck to him.

What do you mean? If PT is mentioned anywhere in the EA, then he can't get rid of them entirely?

[Qld IR Consultant]

It purely depends on exactly what the EA says in terms of the PT positions. Is there a specific clause covering PT's? Are they mentioned anywhere in any organisational charts? I'd need to have a lot more details, but straight up i'd say yes he can get rid of them, but he would have to do a lot of work to do it.

If you want, send me a msg and i'll forward my contact details to you and I'll assist out of this forum.

[Rebekahp]

Thanks, will be in contact.