Automated message creates employment confusion after workplace injury claim
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) recently examined a general protections claim involving a fast food worker who argued she was dismissed after lodging a workers' compensation claim for a workplace injury.
The case arose when the worker received what she interpreted as a termination email from her employer following her extended absence due to injury, leading to confusion about her employment status.
The worker argued she had been dismissed after suffering a workplace injury in March 2025 and successfully claiming workers' compensation.
She maintained that despite being cleared for light duties and making numerous attempts to contact her employer about returning to work, she received no response before being sent what she believed was a dismissal notice in May 2025.
The employer contested the worker's claim, arguing that no dismissal had occurred and that the worker remained an employee.
The company argued that the email in question was an automated message from their training platform, not a termination notice, and that they had been regularly seeking updates on the worker's capacity to return through their workers' compensation claims manager.
The employment relationship involved a worker at a franchise restaurant operated under trustee arrangements in Victoria.
On 17 March 2025, the worker suffered a workplace injury and subsequently lodged a...
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