When does a dispute action taken in line with a Labour Relations Commission decision count as maintaining essential services properly?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In practice material of this kind, we read the Labour Relations Commission's decision issued under the earlier provision on dispute actions, the papers showing which dispute action was carried out and how it followed that decision, and the records of how essential services were kept running during the action.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading applies the provision as written: where a Labour Relations Commission decision exists under the preceding provision on dispute actions, and a dispute action is carried out in accordance with that decision, the workers are treated as having properly maintained and operated the essential services while carrying on the dispute action, so the finding of proper maintenance follows from the decision and the conformity of the action to it, not from a separate review of service levels.
Another reading notes that the provision deems the essential services maintained but does not say how closely the dispute action must track the Commission's decision before it counts as being 'in accordance with' it, nor does it say who decides which positions and services are the essential ones, so a file still has to show what the decision covered and what the action actually did.
Your judgment
If the dispute action diverged in some respect from what the Commission's decision set out, what in the file would show that the divergence was minor or fundamental?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to define conformity with the Commission's decision, or if a court or commission decision clarifies when a dispute action counts as carried out in accordance with such a decision.