Employees don’t get redundancy pay from the National Employment Standards (NES) if their employment ends because their employer doesn’t need the employee’s job to be done by anyone, and this is due to the ordinary and customary turnover of labour.

Whether the employment ends due to an ordinary and customary turnover of labour depends on the facts of each case.

What does the ordinary and customary turnover of labour mean?

When employment ends due to the ordinary and customary turnover of labour it has ended because it’s both common and usual in the circumstances. This means that ending employment in this way is common and it’s a typical or a longstanding practice.

When working out whether or not the ordinary and customary turnover of labour exception applies, each case will depend on its own facts. Below are some of the factors that may be relevant:

• whether the employee had a reasonable expectation of ongoing employment, which may result from:
  • the nature of the work they were employed to do
  • the circumstances in which they came to be employed
  • the circumstances in which their employment continued
• the nature of the job being performed and the work or the kind of business activity being conducted by the employer
• whether the employee was compensated for the insecure nature of their work, such as by being paid a ‘follow the job’ loading
• whether the employee’s employment was short term, seasonal or for a fixed term or task
• whether an employee who was hired at the start of a business contract knew they were only employed for the period of the business contract
• whether the turnover of labour is a normal feature for that particular type of business, or
• whether the event of termination is unusual.