A high income employee is an employee who:

• has accepted a written guarantee of annual earnings
• is guaranteed to earn an annual amount exceeding the high income threshold.

Where an employment relationship ends and there’s a guarantee of annual earnings in place, the employee is still entitled to be paid at the rate set out in the guarantee until the termination date.

Notice periods

If an employer pays out a notice period, they must pay the employee the full amount the employee would have been paid if they worked until the end of the notice period. This includes:

• incentive-based payments and bonuses
• loadings
• monetary allowances
• overtime
• penalty rates
• any other separately identifiable amounts.

Unfair dismissal

High income employees can make an unfair dismissal application if they’re:

• covered by an agreement
• capable of being covered by an award even though award conditions don’t apply.

High income employees who aren’t covered by an award or agreement can’t make an unfair dismissal application.