High Income Earner – Pending Employment Law Change
Brooke van Velden, the Workplace Relations and Safety Minister, announced that during 2025, the Government would be introducing an important change to the personal grievance provisions. Any employee earning more than $180,000 per year would lose the right to bring a personal grievance claim for unjustified dismissal.
The Minister has now provided further details of how this change will operate. Essentially:
- Anyone earning $180,000 or more as a base salary or wage will be deemed above the “high income threshold”.
- Employees earning over the threshold will not be able to raise an unjustified dismissal personal grievance claim. They will be able to raise personal grievances on other grounds, such as discrimination and sexual or racial harassment if relevant.
- Employers and employees will be able to agree to opt back into unjustified dismissal laws - or negotiate their own termination processes in their employment agreement; and
For employees on existing employment agreements, there will be a 12-month transitional period after the law change is passed, during which time:
- they can still bring an unjustified dismissal personal grievance; and
- they can use this period to attempt to renegotiate the termination provisions in their employment agreements.
However, the income threshold will apply from day 1 to anyone signing a new employment agreement after the law comes into effect unless the contract states otherwise.
What does this mean for you?
Should the law pass, whether you are an employee or employer, you should consider the termination provisions in the employment agreements of all staff earning more than $180,000 in salary or wages. Any new employee being offered a role above, or close to, the $180k threshold is likely to review the termination provisions in the employment agreement and may propose changes to ensure they feel protected.
New employees earning above the threshold may request:
- longer notice periods from their employer
- a termination payment agreed in advance
- a clause that reinstates the right to bring a personal grievance for unjustified dismissal back into their employment agreement
Existing employees earning close to or above the threshold may raise the changes and request their current employment conditions remain.
We would advise you to stay aware of the changes and seek advice from an HR legal specialist should you be looking to enforce the pending changes on current employees.