By Anna Patty
A former Spotless executive will get to keep a $477,400 entitlement awarded to him as part of a "handshake" agreement after fighting the listed cleaning company all the way to the High Court.
On Thursday, Spotless failed in its bid to appeal to the High Court a decision that awarded former executive Anthony Stevens $477,400 as part of a termination payment.
KPMG chief digital officer Anthony Stevens was awarded $477,400 after winning a court battle against his old employer, Spotless.Credit: Louie Douvis
Mr Stevens was awarded $477,400 plus interest by the Victorian Court of Appeal when it upheld his case late last year.
Spotless then made an application for special leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia but this was refused.
The new management denied telling Mr Stevens that if he were made redundant he would be paid his full termination benefits. Credit: Tamara Voninski
The former chief information officer had successfully argued in the Victorian Court of Appeal that he had been offered the entitlement equivalent to a year's pay in the form of shares for continued service between September 2011 until September 2013.
The management team at Spotless changed in August 2012 after private equity firm Pacific Equity Partners took control of the company. Mr Stevens said he was given a verbal assurance by the new management team that if he were made redundant, he would be paid his full termination benefits in cash, not shares.
Mr Stevens, who now works as chief digital officer at KPMG in Melbourne, gave evidence that when he arranged to have his role terminated, his manager verbally agreed his retention bonus would be paid and a written agreement would be made to document the arrangement.
The Supreme Court of Australia heard a letter was prepared and signed on behalf of Spotless, but appeared not to have been sent. Other top executives who also left Spotless had received official letters and were paid the retention bonus under a similar agreement to Mr Stevens'.
Illustration: Simon Letch
The new management denied telling Mr Stevens that if he were made redundant he would be paid his full termination benefits. The manager disputed his claims and said his priority had been to retain Mr Stevens to fix the company's software system.
Mr Stevens disputed that evidence during cross-examination. He said he had been offered an inferior role and had made it clear he wanted to leave Spotless at a meeting in September 2012. He said the company had agreed to terminate his employment and pay his retention bonus.
Mr Stevens said the company had agreed to terminate his employment and pay his retention bonus.Credit: Tanya Lake
The company disputed that it had made this oral agreement. The court heard that the day before he left the company in October 2012, Mr Stevens received $477,400 (less tax) as a result of a processing error by the Spotless payroll department. Spotless then tried to recover the amount by trading it off with his other entitlements.