Fair Work Ombudsman v Quest South Perth | |
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Court | High Court of Australia |
Full case name | Fair Work Ombudsman v Quest South Perth Holdings Pty Ltd & Ors |
Argued | 4 November 2015 |
Decided | 2 December 2015 |
Citations | [2015] HCA 45, (2015) 256 CLR 137 |
Transcript | [2015] HCATrans 285 |
Case history | |
Prior actions | Fair Work Ombudsman v Quest South Perth Holdings Pty Ltd (No 2) [2013] FCA 582; Fair Work Ombudsman v Quest South Perth Holdings Pty Ltd [2015] FCAFC 37 |
Subsequent action | Fair Work Ombudsman v Quest South Perth Holdings Pty Ltd (No 4) [2017] FCA 680 |
Court membership | |
Judges sitting | French CJ, Kiefel, Bell, Gageler, and Nettle JJ. |
Fair Work Ombudsman v Quest South Perth is a 2015 decision of the High Court of Australia. Quest, a company operating serviced apartment hotels across Australia, used a company to change the employment status of two housekeepers and a receptionist from employees to independent contractors at its South Perth site. They would then no longer be owed the minimum workplace entitlements owed to employees in Australia. The Fair Work Ombudsman, an authority responsible for enforcing Australian workplace laws, initiated proceedings against Quest South Perth in the Federal Court of Australia.
The Fair Work Ombudsman alleged the conversion breached section 357 of the Fair Work Act 2009. This section prohibits employers from misrepresenting employment as an independent contracting arrangement. The Full Bench of the Federal Court of Australia found Quest South Perth had not contravened section 357 because it had used a third party to convert the employees to independent contractors. The Fair Work Ombudsman then appealed that finding to the High Court of Australia, asking it to find whether an employer can avoid contravening section 357 by introducing a third-party labour hire company into an agreement between itself and its employee. The High Court of Australia found that Quest South Perth had contravened section 357 of the Fair Work Act 2009.
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