The Federal Court has confirmed that the decision in Mondelez v AMWU will be tested before the nation’s highest legal authority.

The High Court of Australia has granted Mondelez International and the Australian Government special leave to appeal the Federal Court’s August decision, which effectively overturned the longstanding accepted practice for calculating personal/carer’s leave entitlements.

In a 2-1 majority judgement, the Full Court of the Federal Court found the National Employment Standards require all employees to be provided with enough personal leave to allow them to take 10 working days of personal/carer’s leave per year, irrespective of how many hours they work each day.

In effect, this decision would provide employees working long shifts and/or industry-specific rosters with far greater leave entitlements than those who work a standard 38-hour week. It also raises uncertainty on leave entitlements for part-time employees across all industries.

Steve Knott, Chief Executive of AREEA, said the Federal Court’s interpretation in Mondelez is not only inconsistent with longstanding practice, it would expose all sectors of the Australian economy to significant cost impacts and create great inequities between different groups of employees.

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