Result

defendant. Applications refused. The Commission declined to vary the awards to provide for a 35-hour week, finding that the councils lacked the financial capacity to absorb the cost and that no satisfactory...

Key principles

• The Commission, in determining whether to vary an award to provide for a 35-hour week, must balance the competing considerations of the desirability of shorter working hours...
• The Commission should not adopt a 'blanket' or 'automatic' approach to the 35-hour week; each case must be determined on its own merits having regard to the specific...
• The introduction of a 35-hour week in the local government sector in Tasmania requires consideration of the financial capacity of municipal councils, the potential impact on...
• The Commission will not order a 35-hour week where the evidence demonstrates that the employer lacks the financial capacity to absorb the cost or where the cost would have to be...

Issues before the court

• Whether the Commission should vary the Municipal Officers' (Launceston City Council) Award 1969 to provide for a 35-hour week
• Whether the Commission should adopt a uniform 35-hour week across the local government sector