A terminal diagnosis wasn't the deciding factor - an overlooked entitlement was
An employer told a terminally ill worker his job had ended by law. The Fair Work Commission found he was dismissed.
An aviation company told a long-serving helicopter pilot that his employment contract had simply ended on its own - so, on the company's case, it had never dismissed him. The Fair Work Commission saw it differently.
In a decision handed down on August 10, 2026, the Commission found the pilot had in fact been dismissed, rejecting the company's argument that his contract had lapsed by law.
The pilot, an aircraft captain of more than 23 years, had been off work since December 2022 after being diagnosed with a serious illness, later found to be terminal. By early 2026 his income protection payments had ended and he had used up his annual and personal leave, and he was drawing on his long service leave to stay paid while absent. An independent medical examination confirmed he was permanently unfit to fly again, and that no treatment would change that.
On April 2, 2026, the company told him his contract had been "frustrated." Frustration is a legal doctrine: when an unforeseen event makes a contract impossible to perform, it can end automatically, without either side terminating it. The stakes were high. No dismissal means no general protections claim - so if the company was right, there was nothing for the pilot to bring.
He argued he had been dismissed and lodged a general protections...
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