He walked off mid-shift, missed three days, and never contacted his employer

An employee walked off citing distress, missed three shifts, and never called in. The Fair Work Commission ruled it wasn't a dismissal.

On 8 July 2025, Kibreab Teklu arrived for his morning shift at Liferaft System Australia, a Hobart-based manufacturer of life rafts and marine evacuation systems. By mid-morning, he had walked out. He never returned to work.

The Commission's ruling, handed down on 27 February 2026, cuts to the heart of a situation HR teams know well: an employee who vanishes after a workplace conflict, and the questions that follow for everyone involved.

The trouble began when acting supervisor Ian Haigh asked Teklu and his colleague Gedamu Yigzaw to quieten down and pick up the pace on a welding task, with another job scheduled for 10AM. Teklu alleged Haigh was aggressive and had physically inserted himself between him and Yigzaw. His colleague, he said, was so overwhelmed he also left. When the main supervisor Greg Russel-Green returned to site, Teklu raised concerns about Haigh's behaviour but says he was spoken over and never given the chance to respond. He left shortly after.

LSA's account was different. Haigh, backed by the uncontested evidence of two senior colleagues, said he was speaking calmly and simply trying to keep the job on schedule. The assigned task, which typically takes two to three hours, had reportedly stretched to six when Teklu and Yigzaw worked together.

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