COSBOA welcomes the announcement by the Government to intervene in the troublesome casuals case of WorkPac V Skene, which could have caused bankruptcy for thousands of businesses around Australia.
Peter Strong, CEO COSBOA, stated, “the findings of the high court were disturbing and potentially disastrous for the business community. The fact that international law firms are lining up to start class actions that would bankrupt many Australian businesses is also very disturbing.”
The court finding has the potential to force business to pay 6 years of ‘holiday’ back pay to casual workers who have already received their holiday pay as part of their casual loading.
According to the Ai Group, employers could be up for as much as $8 billion if the decision is carried through.
Mr Strong added, “the great majority of employees and even the unions must admit that the correct pay has already been provided to the casual workers. To double-dip is neither fair or good for business. There are decent, honest, hard working people out there who may have sold their business and retired and all of a sudden could be up for tens of thousands of dollars or even more for pay they have already provided. This makes no sense and needed to be addressed.”
See further information from the Ai Group HERE