Tasmanian Consolidated Acts

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT 1984 - SECT 3

      (1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears –

"accumulation scheme" means the accumulation scheme as defined in the Public Sector Superannuation Reform Act 1999;

"adult" means a person who has attained the age of 21 years;

"Agency" means a Government department or State authority or other organization specified in Column 1 of Schedule 1 to the State Service Act 2000;

"Australian Commission" means the Australian Industrial Relations Commission established by section 8 of the Commonwealth Act;

"award" means an award made under this Act by the Commission and includes a variation of such an award;

"casual employee", unless prescribed otherwise in an award or agreement, means a person who is engaged to work casual employment;

"casual employment", unless prescribed otherwise in an award or agreement, means work performed by an employee on an irregular, variable or unpredictable basis or on an as and when required basis;

"Commission" means the Tasmanian Industrial Commission constituted under section 5;

"Commissioner" means a member of the Commission;

"Commonwealth Act" means the Workplace Relations Act 1996 of the Commonwealth;

"complying superannuation scheme" means a complying superannuation scheme as defined in the Public Sector Superannuation Reform Act 1999;

"conditions of employment" includes wages;

"contributory scheme" means the superannuation arrangements provided by Part 5 of the Retirement Benefits Regulations 2005;

"controlling authority" means, in the case of –

(a) a State employee who is a State Service employee– the Minister administering the State Service Act 2000;

(b) a person appointed under section 11(3), 12 or 15 of the Police Service Act 2003 – the Commissioner of Police; or

(c) .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  

(d) any other State employee – the principal officer of the State authority by which that employee is employed;

"Deputy President" means the Deputy President of the Commission, and includes a person acting in the office of Deputy President;

"employee" means a private employee or a State employee, and includes –

(a) a trainee as defined in the Vocational Education and Training Act 1994; and

(b) an apprentice; and

(c) an outworker; and

(d) a person appointed under section 11(3), 12 or 15 of the Police Service Act 2003;

"employee organization" means an organization of employees;

"employer" means a private employer or a controlling authority;

"employer organization" means an organization of private employers;

"enterprise" means –

(a) any business, undertaking or project or part of any business, undertaking or project; or

(b) any combination of businesses, undertakings or projects or parts of businesses, undertakings or projects; or

(c) any service provided by an Agency or State authority that is not an Agency or by part of an Agency or such a State authority; or

(d) any combination of services provided by Agencies or State authorities that are not Agencies or by parts of Agencies or such State authorities;

"enterprise agreement" means an agreement referred to in section 61B;

"Full Bench" means a Full Bench of the Commission constituted in accordance with section 14;

"full-time employee", unless prescribed otherwise in an Act, award or agreement, means a person engaged to work full-time employment;

"full-time employment", unless prescribed otherwise in an Act, award or agreement, means the employment of an employee for 38 ordinary hours per week;

"functions" includes duties;

"Government department" means –

(a) a department established under the State Service Act 2000; or

(b) the Police Service;

"industrial agreement" means an agreement referred to in section 55(1);

"industrial dispute" means a dispute in relation to an industrial matter –

(a) that has arisen; or

(b) that is likely to arise or is threatened or impending;

"industrial matter" means any matter pertaining to the relations of employers and employees and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, includes –

(a) a matter relating to –

(i) the mode, terms and conditions of employment; or

(ii) the termination of employment of an employee or former employee; or

(iii) the reinstatement or re-employment of an employee or a former employee who has been unfairly dismissed; or

(iv) the payment of compensation to an employee or a former employee if the Commission determines that reinstatement or re-employment is impracticable; or

(v) severance pay for an employee or a former employee whose employment is to be, or has been, terminated as a result of redundancy; or

(vi) a dispute under the Long Service Leave Act 1976 or the Long Service Leave (State Employees) Act 1994 relating to an entitlement to long service leave, or payment instead of any such leave, or the rate of ordinary pay at which any such leave or payment is to be paid in respect of an employee or former employee; or

(b) a breach of an award or a registered agreement –

but does not include a matter relating to –

(c) the opening or closing hours of an employer's business premises;

(d) .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  

(e) compensation payable to employees in respect of injuries or diseases suffered in the course of their employment;

(ea) .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  

(f) the preferential employment or non-employment of a particular person or class of persons who are or are not members of an organization;

(g) a bonus payment made at the discretion of an employer;

(h) the insurance of employees; or

(i) appointments, or promotions, other than in respect of the qualifications required for advancement;

(j) .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  

"industry" means any industry, trade, business, undertaking, profession, calling, function, process, or work performed, carried on, or engaged in by a private employer;

"inspector" means an inspector appointed and holding office under section 74(2), and includes the Secretary;

"intervener" means an intervener pursuant to section 27;

"joint proceedings" means proceedings in which a Commissioner sits with a member of the Australian Commission pursuant to section 17;

"officer" means a person appointed pursuant to section 18;

"ordinary hourly or weekly rate of pay" means the wages paid to an employee in respect of his or her ordinary working hours;

"organization" means an organization registered under Part V;

"outworker" means a person who performs for an employer work related to the manufacture of a garment outside the employer's premises;

"part-time employee", unless prescribed otherwise in an award or agreement, means a person who is engaged to work part-time employment;

"part-time employment", unless prescribed otherwise in an award or agreement, means employment –

(a) that is performed by an employee on a regular basis for less hours per day or week than the ordinary hours of an equivalent full-time employee; and

(b) the hours of which may vary from time to time but will generally remain constant from day to day or week to week;

"powers" includes authorities;

"President" means the President of the Commission;

"principal officer" means, in relation to a State authority that is not an Agency, the president, chairman, or other principal or presiding member of the authority or, if the authority comprises a single person, that person;

"private employee" means an employee other than –

(a) a State employee; or

(b) an employee who is appointed under section 25 or 31 of the State Service Act 2000; or

(c) an employee whose remuneration is specified in any Act, determined under the Statutory Salaries Act 1979 or determined by the Governor under any Act;

(d) .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  

"private employer" means an employer of a private employee, and includes every managing director or manager of any body corporate, partnership, firm, or association and, in the case of an unincorporated association, includes its secretary and every member of its governing body by whatever name called;

"probationary employment", unless prescribed otherwise in an Act, award or agreement, means employment of an employee for a probationary or trial period;

"probationary or trial period" means a period of employment, for the purpose of determining an employee’s suitability for continuing employment, which –

(a) unless prescribed otherwise in an Act, award or agreement, does not exceed 6 months from the date of commencement of employment; and

(b) is stipulated in writing at the time of engagement; and

(c) is relevant to the work to be performed; and

(d) is reasonable and appropriate in the context of acquiring the skills and experience necessary to satisfactorily perform the duties of the job;

"proclaimed day" means the day fixed by proclamation under section 2(2);

"registered agreement" means –

(a) an industrial agreement registered under Part IV; or

(b) an enterprise agreement registered under Part IVA;

"Registrar" means the person appointed and holding office pursuant to section 18(1) as Registrar of the Commission;

"regulations" means regulations made and in force under this Act;

"RSA" means a Retirement Savings Account within the meaning of the Retirement Savings Accounts Act 1997 of the Commonwealth;

"Secretary", in relation to a provision, means the Head of the Agency within the meaning of the State Service Act 2000 within which the provision is administered;

"State authority" means a body or authority, whether incorporated or not, which is established or constituted by or under an Act or under the royal prerogative, being a body or authority which, or of which, the governing authority, wholly or partly, comprises a person or persons appointed by the Governor, a Minister, or another State authority, but does not include a Government department;

"State employee" means a person who is employed in an Agency or by a State authority that is not an Agency other than a person –

(a) who is appointed under section 25 or 31 of the State Service Act 2000; or

(b) whose remuneration is specified in any Act, determined under the Statutory Salaries Act 1979 or determined by the Governor under any Act;

(c) .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  

"wages" includes salary.

      (2) .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  

      (3) For the purposes of this Act, unless the contrary intention appears, an organization has an interest in –

(a) an award if, in its certificate of registration issued and in force under section 64, that award is specified as one in which a Commissioner has determined, under section 63(10)(c) or 65A(3), that that organization has an interest; and

(b) a matter referred to in section 35(6) if –

(i) the membership of that organization consists of or includes members who are employers or employees in an industry or occupation to which that matter relates or who are State employees to whom that matter relates; and

(ii) that membership is consistent with the organization's rules or constitution lodged with the Registrar pursuant to section 63(1) or consistent with those rules or that constitution as altered, in the case of an organization to which subsection (1) of section 67 applies, with the approval of the Registrar required under that subsection.

      (4) .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  

      (5) If a question arises as to whether a body or an authority is or is not a State authority for the purposes of this Act, that question shall be determined by the Governor, and the Governor may accordingly, by order, declare that body or authority to be or not to be a State authority for the purposes of this Act.

      (6) An order under subsection (5), on being published in the Gazette, is conclusive evidence of what is declared in it.