FWC orders two weeks' pay after ruling text-message dismissal harsh and unreasonable
A New Zealand-based salesman dismissed by text message has won an unfair dismissal claim against his Australian employer, despite living and working across the Tasman.
In a decision handed down on 6 May 2026, the Fair Work Commission ordered Brightest Australia Pty Ltd to pay David Sanderson the equivalent of two weeks' gross pay after finding his dismissal was harsh, unjust or unreasonable, in David Sanderson v Brightest Australia Pty. Ltd. [2026] FWC 1633.
Sanderson started with the app-development company on 16 September 2024 in a sales role with the job title of "Project Consultant," selling monthly "Flexi Plan" subscriptions to New Zealand customers from his home in New Zealand. His contract set a monthly target of five Flexi Plans, and over the duration of his employment he made 32 sales against what he said was a 75-sale obligation. Several of those 32 sales never converted into paying customers, with the applicant acknowledging that at least five sales in the August to December 2025 period did not proceed.
The first surprise in the case was jurisdictional. Brightest Australia presumably assumed that an employee living and working in New Zealand was beyond the reach of Australia's Fair Work Act 2009. Deputy President Farouque disagreed. Because Sanderson's employment contract was offered by the Australian company and accepted when his signed copy was received by email back in...
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