It wasn't just a payout - a referral to the Fair Work Ombudsman came with it

A discount retailer that ignored the Fair Work Commission from start to finish has been ordered to pay a sacked worker more than $14,000.

In a decision handed down on June 19, 2026, the Fair Work Commission found that Panda Mart Trading unfairly dismissed a retail worker two days after Christmas - then walked away from the case entirely. The decision described the company as an international discount retailer that "purports to be a 'Temu' retailer," running megastores in Victoria.

The worker started at the company's Cranbourne store in February 2025. She worked effectively full-time hours, eight to 10 hours a day, five days a week, and was paid in cash - $24 an hour at first, later $26. She received no payslips, no penalty rates, and none of the loadings or entitlements owed under the award and the National Employment Standards.

On December 27, 2025, she turned up for a rostered shift and learned from co-workers that she was gone. Two store managers confirmed it in the carpark. The reasons, she was told, were poor attendance and performance - claims she denied and that the commissioner found had no evidence behind them. She had never been warned about either.

Then the employer went quiet. Panda Mart never lodged the F3 employer response form, never attended a case management conference, and ignored months of emails and phone calls. Its only reply was a single email from a company representative...

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