Summary
Engineers appointed after the retrospective effective date of a pay revision were not excluded from its additional 2% component merely because they joined later. However, that component depended on the prescribed performance targets and approval, and was not automatically due from initial appointment. The Court modified the High Court’s unconditional award accordingly.
Issues
- Whether later appointees could claim the additional 2% pay revision.
- Whether entitlement arose automatically from appointment or depended on performance conditions.
Held
- Read together, the orders of 27 September 2006 and 2 June 2008 extended the additional component to eligible employees irrespective of whether they were serving on 1 April 2003. Appointment in 2007 was not itself a bar. (¶ 3.1)
- The 2% component was conditional on appropriate targets, management sanction and achievement of the prescribed performance requirements. Its differential release and appraisals were governed by the 2008 order. The High Court erred in granting it automatically from appointment, including the probationary period when minimum basic pay applied. (¶ 3.1)
- The Court preserved eligibility for the additional 2%, subject to fulfilment of the stated conditions, while setting aside the direction awarding it unconditionally from initial appointment. (¶ 4)
Result
Appeal partly allowed; the automatic award from appointment was set aside and additional 2% entitlement made subject to the 2 June 2008 order’s performance conditions.