Clyde Engineering Co Ltd v Cowburn (1926) 37 CLR 466

The Forty-Four Hours Week Act 1925 (NSW) provided that workers under a Commonwealth award which stipulated a working week longer than 44 hours should be paid their full wages if they had worked for 44 hours.
Cowburn was a person who worked longer than 44 hours. Cowburn worked for the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth award stated that if a worker worked less than 48 hours, they would have their pay deducted for non-attendance.
Clyde Engineering Co Ltd deducted an amount from Cowburn for only working a 44 hour week. Cowburn challenged this. The resulting proceedings ended up in the High Court.

Was the State statute inconsistent with the Commonwealth statute, as per section 109 of the Constitution?

The High Court held that the NSW statute was inconsistent with the Commonwealth award under section 109 of the Constitution.
Knox CJ and Gavan Duffy J held that where one statute confers a right, and the other takes away the right, even if the right may be waived or abandoned, there is an inconsistency; the State law is then invalid to the extent of the inconsistency.

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