Helensburgh Coal Pty Ltd v Bartley

HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIAGAGELER CJ,GORDON, EDELMAN, STEWARD AND BEECH‑JONES JJHELENSBURGH COAL PTY LTD  APPELLANTANDNEIL BARTLEY AND OTHERS NAMED IN THE SCHEDULE  RESPONDENTSHelensburgh Coal Pty Ltd v Bartley[2025] HCA 29Date of Hearing: 6 March 2025Date of Judgment: 6 August 2025S119/2024ORDERAppeal dismissed.On appeal from the Federal Court of AustraliaRepresentationB W Walker SC with A M Pomerenke KC and P M Zielinski for the appellant (instructed by MinterEllison)J T Gleeson SC with P A Boncardo for the first to twenty-second respondents (instructed by Mining and Energy Union)Submitting appearance for the twenty-third respondentNotice:  This copy of the Court's Reasons for Judgment is subject to formal revision prior to publication in the Commonwealth Law Reports.CATCHWORDSHelensburgh Coal Pty Ltd v BartleyIndustrial law (Cth) – Unfair dismissal – Genuine redundancy – Where employer dismissed employees because of changes in operational requirements of employer's enterprise – Where employer continued to deploy contractors to perform work in employer's enterprise – Where s 389(2) of Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) provides dismissal not genuine redundancy if it would have been reasonable in all circumstances for person to be redeployed within employer's enterprise – Whether Fair Work Commission, in undertaking s 389(2) inquiry, permitted to inquire into whether employer could have made changes to its enterprise to create or make available position for otherwise redundant employee.Appeals – Standard of appellate review – Where Full Bench of Fair Work Commission applied House v The King standard of appellate review to review of decision that dismissals were not cases of genuine redundancy under...