New South Wales Consolidated Acts

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT 1996 - SECT 289

289 Application for membership of organisation by person treated as having been a member

(1) If--

(a) a person who is eligible for membership of an organisation (other than a member of the organisation or a person who has been expelled from the organisation) applies to be admitted as a member of the organisation, and

(b) the person has, up to a time within one month before the application, acted in good faith as, and been treated by the organisation as, a member,

the person is entitled to be admitted to membership and treated by the organisation and its members as though the person had been a member during the whole of the time when the person acted as, and was treated by the organisation as, a member and during the whole of the time from the person's application to the person's admission.

(2) If a question arises as to the entitlement under this section of a person to be admitted as a member and to be treated as though the person had been a member during the times referred to in subsection (1)--

(a) the person, or

(b) a person who is or desires to become the employer of the person, or

(c) the organisation,

may apply to the Commission to determine the entitlement of the person under this section.

(3) Subject to subsection (5), the Commission may, despite anything in the rules of the organisation concerned, make such orders (including mandatory injunctions) to give effect to its determination as it considers appropriate.

(4) The orders that the Commission may make under subsection (3) include an order requiring the organisation concerned to treat a person to whom subsection (1) applies as being a member of the organisation and as having been a member during the times referred to in subsection (1).

(5) Where an application is made to the Commission under this section--

(a) if the application is made otherwise than by the person whose entitlement is in question--the person must be given an opportunity to be heard by the Commission, and

(b) if the application is made otherwise than by the organisation concerned--the organisation must be given an opportunity to be heard by the Commission.

(6) A reference in this section to a person having acted as, or been treated by the organisation as, a member of an organisation includes a reference to a person having so acted or been so treated during a period before the commencement of this section.