Stratacrete Pty Ltd

Stratacrete Pty Ltd was the applicant in this case, seeking to vary an order for redundancy pay made under section 100 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). The application arose from a dispute regarding the redundancy pay owed to employees who had been made redundant due to the cessation of operations at a particular location. The Federal Circuit Court was the forum for this application.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether the applicant employer had met its onus of proving that the employees had obtained other acceptable employment. This involved examining the terms of any employment contracts and considering whether the relocation or transfer terms were such that the employment could be considered acceptable. The court had to determine if the employer had satisfied the necessary legal criteria to justify a reduction in the redundancy pay amount.

The court considered the contractual terms and found that the employer had not met its onus of proving that the employees had obtained other acceptable employment. The terms of the employment contracts, including those relating to relocation or transfer, did not satisfy the legal requirements for the other employment to be deemed acceptable. As a result, the application to vary the redundancy pay order was dismissed. The court's decision was based on the employer's failure to establish that the employees' new employment met the criteria for being considered acceptable.

No further orders were made by the court, and the original redundancy pay order remained in effect.