Optus denied leave to appeal Supreme Court decision on long service leave offences

In March 2021, the Wage Inspectorate filed charges against Optus alleging it had failed to pay 5 former employees their full entitlement to long service leave on the day their employment ended.

The Wage Inspectorate later applied to amend the charges, considering the offences as continuous from the date of each employee’s departure until they received their outstanding long service leave entitlements.

On 17 December 2021, Magistrate Foster granted the Wage Inspectorate’s application to amend the charges, but Optus then filed a motion in the Victorian Supreme Court seeking judicial review of that decision.

In May of this year, the Supreme Court of Victoria agree with Magistrate Foster that section 9(2) of the Act provided for a continuing offence, and that there was no error in their decision to grant the Wage Inspectorate leave to amend the charges.

The Wage Inspectorate will not provide further comment while the matter is before the court.

Read more about Victoria's long service leave laws