Can AUFA members refuse work outside of their job descriptions?

The AUFA office has been increasingly approached by members asking if they can refuse work that is not in their job description. Although the short answer is ‘probably’ the full answer is complicated and bears exploration.

Current Practice

There is a longstanding disconnect at AU between job descriptions and the work done. Although jobs can be reviewed once a year, this rarely takes place because of the work involved for HR and management, and the assigned duties slowly drift away from the job description. Eventually, it means many members do work that has nothing to do with their positions.

This situation is normally voluntary. Many members create their own work, takes on new duties for career growth, or just want to go with the flow. However, there are situations where members may wish refuse assigned duties as being outside of their job description. This is particularly true if the member wants an updated job description that reflects their real work, and management or HR are refusing to do the update. At that point, following the documented duties looks like the best leverage the member has.

Legalities

Although the facts of the matter may vary, the law is probably on the member’s side. Job descriptions must have legal meaning and the employer’s refusal to update a job description is their problem. This is particularly true in the IT Optimization where members were made redundant and then moved into new jobs and are now being asked to continue the old work that was made redundant. The correct management response to a bad job description should be to correct the assigned duties or the job description, not discipline the member for being caught in the middle.

However, the employer may attempt discipline anyways because threatening members may be more agreeable to them than rewriting job descriptions. Under the ‘work now grieve later’ principle any union will advise you follow direct orders which the union can then grieve and resolve down the line. This is because the employer may choose to invoke discipline, even if the orders are faulty.  

Can I lose my job?

It is unlikely a member would lose their job over refusal to perform work not in their job description. Assigning a job description and then requiring unrelated work is the employer’s problem and something they should fix. As well, the principle of progressive discipline means in most cases corrective action should begin light before escalating. Jumping to the most severe form of discipline weakens the employer’s case, and also doesn’t solve the problem of getting the work they want done. Because of these factors, AUFA’s strong appeal process should successfully halt attempts where the employer chooses discipline over accurate job descriptions. The path of least resistance is just doing the job of managing properly.

However, legal outcomes are about likelihoods, not guarantees. As such, AUFA always recommends that when given a direct order by your supervisor, follow it while we resolve an disputes over its legality. We cannot advise behaviour that may trigger discipline, even if the discipline is unreasonable or unfair. That said, members are free to make their own decisions and AUFA will represent our members to the best of our ability. 

David Powell

AUFA President