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Employer fined after false reliance on redundancy pay exception

In a long-running case analysing when a redundancy occurs due to the "ordinary and customary turnover of labour", the Federal Court has fined an employer for its "conscious and deliberate" failure to pay employees their entitlements.

In 2015, Spotless Services Australia informed three employees that its contract at Perth International Airport was being terminated, and their employment would end.

But Spotless didn't pay their redundancy entitlements, relying on an exception that took effect from 5 November 2014, for redundancies that were "a consequence of ordinary and customary turnover of labour".

Following a Fair Work Ombudsman investigation, Spotless paid the three employees, without admitting liability. The FWO subsequently sought declarations and penalties for its alleged Fair Work Act breaches...

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