His visa lapsed in April - but the company didn't say he was sacked until July
The Fair Work Commission has given a gold mine worker more time to challenge his sacking, finding he wasn't told of it until months later.
The worker was a process technician at Barto Gold Mining, employed on a subclass 482 visa that allowed him to work in Australia. When that visa expired on April 15, 2026, he lost the legal right to work in the country. He flew back to Ghana later that month.
Rather than end his job on the spot, the company spent weeks looking into whether it could back him for a new visa. It let him draw on his accrued leave while he waited overseas, and by May 21, 2026 had told him the process was moving - it would advertise his role for 28 days, then lodge documents with the Department of Home Affairs.
Then the company changed course. In a letter on July 10, 2026, it said it would not renew the visa, pointing to the “softening gold price, strategy changes, cost margins and long-term viability”. It treated his employment as having ended back on April 15 - the day the visa lapsed - and paid him four weeks in lieu of notice plus unused leave.
That timing is what brought the case to the Commission. The worker filed his unfair dismissal claim on July 18, 2026 - just eight days after the company finally told him he was out. But these claims have to be lodged within 21 days of a dismissal taking effect, and his job had officially ended back on April 15. That made the claim 73 days...
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