Under the Fair Work Act (sub-sec 389 (2)) it is provided that a person’s dismissal is not to be regarded as a genuine redundancy (and therefore an absolute defence to an unfair dismissal claim) if inter alia it would have been reasonable in the circumstances for the person to be redeployed within the employer’s enterprise or an enterprise of an associated entity of the employer.
Recently a Full Federal Court of Australia in Helensburgh Coal Pty Ltd v Bartley[2024] FCAFC 45 upheld a decision of the Fair Work Commission (FWC) which had found that an employer was required to consider whether its employees could have been redeployed to positions occupied by employees of contractors instead of having their positions made redundant.
Helensburgh Coal Pty Ltd v Bartley [2024] FCAFC 45 per Katzmann, Snaden and Raper JJ delivered 5 September 2024.
NB https://www.hcourt.gov.au/cases/case_s119-2024