Your "All-Inclusive" OTE Is About to Get a Lot More Specific

The Federal Court just sent a $1.1 billion message to Australian employers: your creative accounting doesn't fly anymore. Woolworths and Coles tried to bury penalty rates and overtime in "all-inclusive" salaries. The court said no. Now every sales org in ANZ should be sweating.

Here's why this matters to you: most sales comp plans are built on the same dodgy foundation. That "uncapped OTE" you signed for? It might be using the same set-off clauses the court just torched. Your base salary "includes" super, your commission "absorbs" expenses, your bonuses "cover" overtime. Except legally, they don't.

We've been tracking this since September 2025 when the Federal Court started tightening the screws on all-inclusive arrangements. Sales leaders brushed it off as a retail problem. Wrong. Enterprise SaaS, fintech, martech—everyone's using the same playbook. If Woolworths can't get away with it at scale, your 50-person startup definitely can't.

What's about to happen: HR teams will panic-audit every comp plan written in the last three years. Backdated payments will quietly appear in your account (take screenshots). New contracts will be painfully specific about what's base, what's commission, what's actually uncapped. The "we'll sort it out later" approach to comp transparency is dead.

For sales professionals, this is actually good news—if you know how to use it. That verbal promise about accelerators? Get it in writing now, before legal scrubs it. That "discretionary" bonus you hit every quarter? Time to make it contractual. The power dynamic just shifted because no CRO wants to be the next $100 million Federal Court headline.

The court didn't just penalize Optus and Woolworths. It created a roadmap for every sales rep in ANZ to demand clearer, more enforceable comp structures. Your OTE was always supposed to be specific. Now it legally has to be.

Start asking questions. In writing.