Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union v Pinnacle Career Development Pty Ltd
Citation: [2010] FCA 1350
At a glance
- Employees affected
- 5
What happened
Five union members employed by Pinnacle Career Development took protected industrial action on 21-24 June 2010 and 7 July 2010 in support of enterprise agreement negotiations. the Applicant stopped work as notified to the employer. Pinnacle served lockout notices in response and locked out the employees on 28 June 2010 and 7 July 2010, withholding all wages during these periods. The employees were ready, willing and able to perform work.
What was decided
The Court dismissed the union's application seeking declarations that Pinnacle contravened sections 340 and 346 of the Fair Work Act. The Court found Pinnacle's lockout constituted lawful employer response action under section 411 of the Fair Work Act. the Respondent had served proper notice and satisfied the procedural requirements for employer response action.
What it means for employers
Employers may lawfully lock out employees who take protected industrial action if proper notice is given and the procedural requirements of the Fair Work Act are satisfied.
What it means for employees
Lockouts are permitted as employer countermeasures to protected industrial action, provided proper notice is given. Employees locked out do not receive pay for the lockout period.
Want this applied to your situation?
Reading the decision is free. FairWork Mate goes further — it reads the full case library and applies precedents like this one to your specific facts, citing the cases as it reasons. General information, not a guaranteed outcome or legal advice.
Every statement above is drawn from the published decision. Read the original here:
https://www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2010/2010fca1350Want more cases like this?
FairWork Mate tracks Fair Work Ombudsman, Fair Work Commission and Federal Court decisions across Australia. The AI advisor answers plain-English questions grounded on the full corpus — awards cited, industry, penalty amounts and affected employee counts — with a citation to the underlying decision on every answer.
Individual case summaries on this site are free. Full-corpus advisor access is a paid product — Business Solo from $99/mo, 50% off your first 3 months for the first 100 signups.
Get notified on new Fair Work cases
Free email alerts when we publish new underpayment decisions, penalty orders, and workplace law updates.
Free forever. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
This summary was drafted from the published decision and reviewed before publishing. It is general information, not legal advice. For your specific situation, speak to the Fair Work Ombudsman (13 13 94) or a qualified lawyer. About these summaries & corrections →