The court found the manager was "out of her depth" handling the situation
A pregnant employee was quietly offboarded without her knowledge. Her employer said she resigned. A court disagreed, but still dismissed her claims.
On 23 March 2026, the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia dismissed an application brought by Alyssa Silcock against Burger Urge Pty Ltd, a Queensland-based burger chain. The case raised pointed questions about informal leave arrangements, manager training and the legal weight of offboarding documentation.
Silcock began work as a part-time crew member at the company's Forster, New South Wales store on 20 May 2024, already five months pregnant. With less than 12 months of service, she had no statutory entitlement to unpaid parental leave under the Fair Work Act. What followed was a series of informal conversations with Jaime Grant, then the store's assistant manager and later its store manager from 17 July 2024, about taking around six months off to have her baby. Silcock believed an arrangement had been agreed. Grant processed her departure as a resignation.
The court accepted Silcock's account, finding she had not resigned. Her employment was terminated on 2 September 2024 when Grant completed an employee offboarding checklist recording her as having resigned. Silcock had never seen the document, let alone signed it. Grant admitted she had made the pen mark in the signature block herself.
Silcock, who represented herself throughout the...
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