He never signed anything, yet a court found he'd agreed to months of unpaid leave
An employee's own casual messages helped decide his claim for unpaid wages against law firm Dentons, which a court dismissed on July 27, 2026.
The Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia found the worker had agreed to an unpaid pandemic furlough even though no signed variation of his contract existed.
The man worked as a boardroom concierge in Dentons' Sydney office, starting in December 2019. When COVID-19 shut down in-person board meetings, his role could not be performed in the usual way. Rather than make him redundant, the firm offered furlough - a period of leave without pay - as the alternative.
He did no work between May 1, 2020 and January 10, 2021, then returned on January 11, 2021. He stayed on until he resigned, with a final day of March 25, 2022.
He later brought a small claim under the Fair Work Act, arguing he was owed $41,422.05 in wages for the furlough, plus $3,724.59 in leave and $3,935.09 in superannuation, together with interest. His main argument was a contract point. His agreement said any amendment had to be in writing and signed by both parties. No signed variation existed, so, he argued, the furlough could not stand and he should have been paid.
The court did not accept that. It found the furlough operated as a variation of the contract and that the employee had accepted it through his silence and conduct. His argument that the change was never put in writing...
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