Court implies 12 months' notice for a senior manager whose contract left it open
A missing number in a termination clause just cost Toll Transport $176,250 in compensation.
On 11 March 2026, the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia handed down its decision in Lord v Toll Transport Pty Ltd, ordering the company to compensate a long-serving General Manager who was terminated with just three months' notice, despite a contract that never specified how much notice was required.
The case centred on a single overlooked detail in the employment contract. Clause 7(a) of Rodney Lord's written contract, dated 6 July 2018, stated that either party could terminate employment "by giving months' written notice." The actual number of months was never filled in.
Lord had been part of the Toll Group since 1988, rising through the ranks over 34 years to become General Manager Queensland, earning $235,000 per year. On 9 March 2021, he was called to a meeting at Toll's Brisbane office, where he was handed a termination letter giving him three months' notice. The reason given was that the company "was heading in a new direction under new leadership." At the same meeting, Rugendyke offered Lord an ex-gratia payment of $58,750, conditional on his signing a Deed of Release that would have precluded him from instituting the subject proceedings. Lord refused.
With no notice period specified in the contract, Judge Egan determined that a reasonable period should be implied. The court weighed...
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