It filed no defence - and the fallout reached the Fair Work Ombudsman
The Fair Work Commission has ordered a discount retailer that never filed a defence to pay a dismissed cashier more than $11,000.
Panda Mart Trading, a discount chain with three large stores in Australia, lost the unfair dismissal case on August 28, 2026 without putting up a defence. It filed no response, did not attend an early conciliation session, and did not appear at the final conference. The Commission can decide a case when an employer stays away, and it did so here on the worker's evidence alone.
The worker was a casual cashier paid $26 an hour in cash. She said she arrived for a shift on December 27, 2025 and heard from a colleague that she had been dismissed. Two supervisors then approached her in the car park and told her to return her uniform. She said no one had raised concerns about her performance or conduct, and that she never received payslips or the extra pay her award required.
Panda Mart made contact once, through an email from its human resources representative. The company said the worker had used a false name and that her visa did not permit her to keep working, and argued there had been “no ‘dismissal’ in the ordinary sense.” The same email accused her of “defamatory statements” and “intimidation and extortion” and said the company would refer her to immigration authorities. The Commissioner found the visa and false-name claims “baseless,” with no evidence to support them.
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