The employer won, but Fair Work spotted gaps that could burn other HR teams
Rivercity Ferries won its unfair dismissal case on 5 March 2026, but the ruling exposed process gaps that nearly cost them.
When Jodie Daunis, a customer service operator on Brisbane's river ferry network, was dismissed on 1 July 2025, her employer believed it had done everything right. It had obtained an independent medical examination. It had issued two show cause letters. It had taken legal advice. Commissioner Simpson of the Fair Work Commission agreed: the dismissal was not unfair. But the decision cuts both ways.
Daunis had worked in the Brisbane ferry industry since June 2008, transferring to Rivercity Ferries Pty Ltd in November 2020. Her role required lengthy periods on her feet aboard a moving vessel, a difficult reality for someone managing deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and a genetic clotting disorder called Factor V Leiden. In the 12 months leading to 15 April 2025, she had been absent from work for 114 days.
After meetings and requests for updated medical certificates, an independent medical examination (IME) was conducted on 11 June 2025. The IME assessor stated that he and Daunis had agreed: "She is currently incapable of undertaking safely the full inherent duties of her role." Rivercity issued its second show cause letter on 25 June 2025. Her union, the Maritime Union of Australia, responded on 30 June 2025. She was dismissed the following day.
Here is where it gets instructive. The...
The Department of Homeland Security on Monday blasted a federal judge’s order requiring it to immediately improve conditions at its ICE processing facility in Baltimore — including reducing the nu...