Firing someone days after a formal complaint is a legal risk
A commercial laundry's wage cut, missed superannuation, and a dismissal two days after a formal complaint has put HR professionals across Australia on notice.
On 17 March 2026, the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia handed down its decision in Myo v Hybrid PG Pty Ltd, finding that Hybrid PG Pty Ltd, a commercial laundry based at Mascot in Sydney, and its sole director Patrick Cooper had unlawfully dismissed employee Hnin Kalaya Myo after she exercised her workplace rights. The court also found the company had failed to pay her full wages and had not made required superannuation contributions on time.
Myo was engaged as a permanent part-time laundry team member on 28 July 2022, working 22 hours per week at $30 per hour gross, plus superannuation. She commenced on 9 August 2022.
Less than five weeks in, on 7 September 2022, the company issued a memorandum to all staff advising that hourly rates would be reduced to $25 per hour, effective 12 September 2022. No individual written consent was sought from Myo. Cooper later acknowledged in cross-examination that he had not obtained her agreement to the reduction. The court found the memorandum was "a notification of a unilateral decision, not an invitation to discuss or enter into a variation of the employment contract." It further found that even after the company made a partial back-payment in February 2023, a gross amount of $329 in unpaid wages remained...
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