The Fair Work Ombudsman has successfully prosecuted a Thai
restaurant business on the Gold Coast for terminating an employee
upon attaining the age of 65 years of age.
The employee had been working for about 15 years and brought
complaints about underpayment of wages which were disputed by the
business.
As the issues were unresolved the employee sought a redundancy
and severance payment. The employer refused and stated that it was
company policy not to employ any staff that attain the retirement
age of 65 years of age.
The Federal Circuit Court held that this was a breach of the
General Protections provisions under Part 3.1 of the Fair Work
Act 2009 (Cth) which prohibit adverse action based on age. The
Federal Circuit Court ordered the company to pay the employee
$10,000 for loss suffered plus $20,790 in fines. The company's
joint directors were fined a further $4,180 each.
