Judges clear 13 unfair dismissal cases against Saudi embassy to go ahead
Foreign embassies in Australia can face local unfair dismissal claims, the Federal Court has confirmed in a significant ruling on state immunity and employment law.
In a judgment delivered on 15 December 2025, the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia dismissed an application by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia Cultural Mission challenging the jurisdiction of the Fair Work Commission (FWC) over unfair dismissal claims brought by former staff in Canberra. The application for judicial review had been filed on 6 November 2024.
The embassy had engaged a number of employees to perform work at its embassy in Canberra. In 2022, the engagement of several of those employees ended. Some of them applied to the FWC for an unfair dismissal remedy under section 394 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth).
The embassy argued that, as a foreign State and diplomatic mission, it was immune from the jurisdiction of Australian bodies under the Foreign State Immunities Act 1985 (Cth). It contended that an unfair dismissal remedy under the Fair Work Act was not available against it, that the Act did not apply to it, that some staff were not “permanent residents” of Australia for the purposes of that legislation, and that contractual clauses directing disputes to Saudi authorities should exclude the FWC’s involvement.
A Deputy President of the FWC rejected the embassy’s jurisdictional objections for most of the employees....
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