UPDATED: Federal Court finds in favour of CPSU NSW in Team Leader dispute with Northcott
Read how The Sydney Morning Herald reported on our win for Northcott Team Leaders .
On Wednesday afternoon the Federal Court handed down its decision in relation to the status of Service Coordinators, finding their work was the 鈥渟ame, or substantially similar鈥 to that of Team Leaders.
The case was brought by the CPSU NSW on behalf of staff originally transferred from the NSW Department of Family and Community Services (FACS), following a 2019 鈥渞estructure鈥 of Northcott鈥檚 supported independent living services which, among other things, replaced Team Leader positions in group homes with Services Coordinators, slashing the pay of staff who elected to take up those roles.
The CPSU NSW always contended the work of Service Coordinators was the same or substantially similar to Team Leaders and as such, transferring FACS staff in those roles remained covered by copied State instruments, including the Community Living Award 2015 (CLA).
The Federal Court agreed declaring the CLA, the Public Service Conditions Award 2019 and the Public Sector Salaries Award 2017 all continued to cover transferring Team Leaders who had taken up Service Coordinator jobs during Northcott鈥檚 restructure.
The decision means those transferred staff revert to the more beneficial award terms, including an entitlement to back pay for any financial losses incurred as a result.
While the full implications of the Court鈥檚 decision are yet to be finalised, and we understand Northcott are considering their legal options, we expect to begin discussions with the company shortly.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank those staff who assisted the CPSU NSW with the case.
Click for a copy of the decision or contact the CPSU NSW for further details on 1800 772 679 and ask to speak to a member of our disability services team.
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CPSU NSW – THE DISABILITY WORKERS鈥 UNION