The big question about terminating incarcerated employees remains unanswered after FWC ruling
A Coles manager fired while in jail lost her unfair dismissal case, leaving employers without clear answers on terminating incarcerated employees.
Brooke Jones was a department manager at Coles Supermarkets in Casuarina when she was jailed on August 2, 2025, for charges that had nothing to do with her work. While she sat in a cell unable to check her email, her employer was trying to reach her about ending her job.
On August 11, 2025, Coles sent Jones an email saying her incarceration meant she couldn't fulfill her employment contract and the company was considering ending it. She had until August 22, 2025, to respond. But Jones never saw the message.
About a week later, the store manager handed a copy of the email to Jones's father, who also worked at the same Coles store. He called his daughter, who then asked her lawyer to respond. The lawyer sent a letter dated August 19, 2025, asking Coles to wait until at least September 24, 2025, when Jones's next court date was scheduled. The letter explained she was fighting the charges and they were unrelated to her employment.
Coles says that letter never arrived. On August 26, 2025, the company sent another email to Jones saying her employment had ended because she missed the deadline to respond.
Jones learned she'd been fired on September 4, 2025, the day she was released from jail, when her father broke the news. Two days later, she...
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