Lennie v Hawkes

In Lennie v Hawkes, the applicants, Judith Anne Lennie and Robert Laird, sought to recover wages they claimed were owed by their employer, the first respondent, following a lockout. The employer contended that it was entitled to refuse to pay remuneration for work done on certain days during the lockout, as per s170PG(5) of the Industrial Relations Act 1988. The key legal issue was whether the lockout was valid under the Act. The applicants argued that they were not locked out as a matter of fact and that the notices they received did not have the effect of locking them out. They contended that the entitlement of the employer to refuse to pay remuneration was limited to lockouts that attracted protected action status. The court found that the notices given to the applicants were not sufficient to establish a lockout, as they did not clearly and unambiguously inform the applicants that they were prevented from performing work during a certain period of time. The court also found that the lockout did not have protected action status because the employer failed to give the requisite 72 hours’ notice to the applicants before the lockout began. As a result, the applicants were entitled to be paid for the hours they worked on the relevant days. The court ordered the employer to pay the applicants the sum of $248 (Lennie) and $243.73 (Laird) within 21 days. The question of interest was adjourned for later determination.