Ipex Software Services & Ors v Hosking

Gaudron and Callinan JJ of the High Court of Australia considered a dispute between Ipex Software Services Pty Ltd and its directors (the appellants) and Mr Hosking (the respondent). The respondent had been employed by Ipex Software Services Pty Ltd and alleged that he had been wrongfully dismissed. The core of the dispute concerned the respondent's entitlement to a bonus payment allegedly promised to him by the company.

The High Court was required to determine whether the respondent had established a contractual right to the bonus payment. This involved considering whether the alleged promise constituted a term of his employment contract, and if so, whether the circumstances of his dismissal affected his entitlement to that bonus. The court also had to consider the appellants' defence that the respondent's conduct had repudiated his employment contract, thereby disentitling him to the bonus.

The Court found that the respondent had not established a contractual right to the bonus. Their Honours reasoned that the alleged promise was too vague to be incorporated as a term of the employment contract. The terms of the bonus were not sufficiently defined, such as the criteria for its calculation or the conditions for its payment. Consequently, the respondent could not demonstrate that he had a legally enforceable right to the bonus payment, and therefore his claim failed.