A co-founder shared her pregnancy news. She quit. Why the tribunal still backed the company

A software firm disclosed a worker's pregnancy without consent - and still beat her claim that it forced her out.

An Australian tech company has defeated a claim that it forced a pregnant employee to resign, even as the Fair Work Commission criticised one of its co-founders for sharing her pregnancy without consent and giving unreliable evidence about it.

In a decision dated June 4, 2026, Commissioner Sloan dismissed the case against Zitcha Pty Ltd and three named individuals, finding the employee resigned voluntarily and so could not bring the claim at all.

The dispute hinged on a question that lands on HR desks regularly: when is a resignation really a dismissal? Under the Fair Work Act 2009, this kind of claim only works if the person was "dismissed" - either the employer ended the job, or the worker resigned but was "forced" to by the employer's conduct. Zitcha said neither happened.

The facts, drawn from the decision, are stark. The employee joined the software firm in October 2024. She became pregnant around September 2025 and had a history of severe hyperemesis gravidarum - a condition causing extreme nausea and vomiting - from an earlier pregnancy. She told two co-founders early, including her manager, Troy Townsend, so the company could plan for possible leave. She stressed she was "not telling everyone."

After she was signed off work for eight weeks, Townsend told a...

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