Three cleaners argued rolling contracts gave them a right to stay. The Commission tested that claim
Three cleaners said their expiring contracts amounted to a firing. On July 3, 2026, the Fair Work Commission disagreed - and drew a clear line.
The workers were employed as Cleaning Service Officers in the Education Directorate of the Australian Capital Territory. They were hired for a specific purpose. The Territory had built a temporary "surge" workforce to cover permanent cleaners while it worked through a backlog of accrued leave. The three made a merit list and were offered work.
Their contracts, signed in early January 2025, were titled "Temporary Employment Contract." Each set out a fixed period running from January 23 to June 27, 2025, said the job would end when that period closed, and stated the employee had no reasonable expectation of work beyond it. When the leave program ran long, the Territory offered extensions from June 28, 2025 to January 28, 2026. The workers signed again.
On January 28, 2026, the Territory told them their employment had ended.
They applied to the Fair Work Commission under section 365 of the Fair Work Act - the general protections path, which requires that a person has "been dismissed." The Territory objected immediately. There was no dismissal, it said. The contracts had simply reached their end date. That objection went to jurisdiction, so the Commission had to resolve it before anything else.
The workers argued context should win....
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