He had a new job at the same pay - so why did he say no, and what did it cost him
A flight trainer refused to sign a new contract over a single intellectual-property clause. The Fair Work Commission says he loses his redundancy pay anyway.
The Commission ruled on May 26, 2026 that Alliance Airlines can cut Brett Morley's redundancy payout from four weeks to zero, finding the airline had offered him an acceptable alternative job - one he turned down.
Here's how it unfolded. In November 2025, Alliance restructured its Flight Training and Standards departments. Morley, a Deputy Flight Training Manager, was told his role was at risk. The airline went looking for somewhere to redeploy him and landed on a Flight Training Manager position - same location, same pay, duties substantially aligned to his existing job.
Morley would not sign. The problem was clause 13, the contract's intellectual-property clause.
Before joining Alliance, he had developed a "command development" program. Per the decision, some of that material came from outside sources and was not his to own outright. The program had been floated to Alliance informally in 2025, looked at briefly, but never formally adopted as company property. By October 2025, a manager had said it would not continue in its current form.
Morley wanted the program carved out of the IP clause. He drafted his own wording. He traded emails with managers through December and January. The carve-out never made it in.
Alliance held firm. In a...
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