Background
From 2005, Ms Sperac (the Plaintiff) was an employee at Global Television Services (the Defendant) as an account manager, reporting to
the General Manager Victoria. In November 2005, Global decided to review its branch structure to improve the company’s economic performance. Mr Strouthos, (Chief Financial Officer, Company Secretary and Chief Operating Officer of Global) gave evidence that under the restructure, various branches and positions had been abolished. The Plaintiff’s position was made redundant, her client liaison duties were incorporated into a more senior sales management role and a more technically focused role of Project Services Manager was created in both Sydney and Melbourne. He also stated that the Defendant was constantly restructuring, as a business.
The Plaintiff argued that the redundancy story was a sham and her work and competence together with her commitments, put her into a position which was not redundant. She believed she was dismissed because she was ‘generally agitating for her rights.’ Hence there was no genuine operational reason for making her redundant. There was also evidence indicating that she may have been promised the new
project services supervisor role.
Case
The Court also examined Carter v Village Cinema’s Australia Pty Ltd in this case, in order to determine the jurisdictional test in this matter. The Commission found the submission that the Plaintiff was not redundant because there was a position to which she was promised is not relevant in a jurisdictional consideration. They would not take into consideration that she had been promised a new role. The only consideration was whether the change was for a genuine operational reason. It held that the treatment of the Plaintiff is not relevant and the organizational change is not a sham simply because she could have been treated better.
The Commissioner was satisfied that the changes made were genuine and not a sham. The restructuring was to improve the company’s economic performance and to streamline its operational functions.
Decision: Because the Commission was satisfied that the restructure was intended to address economic and operational issues it dismissed the Plaintiff’s claim.