Three countries, three contracts, and one week home that couldn’t keep his case in Australia
A manager who moved between his employer’s Australian, British and American arms couldn’t get his dismissal claim heard - because of who employed him.
The Fair Work Commission dismissed the case on September 4, 2026, finding it had no power to hear it. The worker had applied under the Fair Work Act’s general protections - the part that lets people challenge a dismissal - but the Commission never examined the dismissal itself. One question had to be answered first: was he even an “Australian-based employee” when he lost his job? The Commission found he was not, which put him outside the Act.
His work history reads like a relocation diary. He joined an Australian engineering firm in 2018 as an IT manager and stayed on when it merged into Stantec Australia in 2020. In June 2021 he moved to the United Kingdom, and that August his employment shifted to the group’s UK company. His Australian annual leave was paid out, a final Australian payslip followed, and he emailed HR acknowledging he had been “terminated in Australia.” The company said it was “holding” his long service and personal leave balances in case he ever came back.
In December 2023 he signed a contract with the group’s US business - while he was physically in Australia. He worked one week at home under that contract in early 2024, managing Australian staff, then flew to Britain, then to the United States, where he stayed...
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