His union pulled out two days before the deadline - then the Commission looked closer
A sacked worker filed his unfair dismissal claim one day late. The Fair Work Commission decided he should still be heard.
In a decision published on August 26, 2026, the Commission agreed to accept an unfair dismissal application that arrived a day past the deadline, after the worker's union pulled out of his case two days before the clock ran out. The ruling is a useful marker for HR and industrial relations teams on when the 21-day filing window can stretch - and when it can't.
The worker was dismissed from Tyree Transformers on June 11, 2026. That gave him until midnight on July 2 to lodge an unfair dismissal application. He filed on July 3.
The delay came down to the final week. He had asked his union for help the day after he was dismissed. A union legal officer took up the file, got internal sign-off to act for him, and finished a claim form on June 29 while on annual leave. A day later, the union changed course. On June 30 - two days before the deadline - it told him it would not take his case, citing budget constraints. It never handed him the form it had already drafted.
That left him to file on his own, with the deadline closing in and no experience of the process. He had been told the union would handle everything.
He also produced medical evidence. His doctor saw him on July 3 and described him as being in a “significantly emotionally distressed state.” The evidence recorded a...
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